Encapsulation of Lactobacillus casei into calcium pectinate beads coated with chitosan provided capsules capable of delivering live probiotic bacteria into the intestine.
This study reports the development of a novel and simple formulation for probiotic delivery using chitosan-coated agar-gelatin gel particles. This methodology involves the production of agar-gelatin particles by thermally treating a mixture of agar and gelatin solutions at high temperatures (121 °C) and subsequently coating with chitosan. The particles were able to protect the probiotic strain Lactobacillus plantarum NCIMB 8826 during incubation for 2 h in simulated gastric fluid (pH 2), as no statistically significant loss (P > 0.05) in cell concentration was observed, and also resist dissolution in simulated intestinal fluid (pH 7.2). Interestingly, this protection is related to the fact that the intense thermal treatment affected the physicochemical properties of agars and resulted in the formation of a strong and tight polymer network, as indicated by the X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Using an in vitro faecal batch fermentation model simulating the conditions of the distal part of the large intestine (pH 6.7–6.9), it was demonstrated by quantitative real-time PCR that the majority of L. plantarum cells were released from the agar-gelatin particles within 30 to 48 h. Overall, this work led to the development of a novel methodology for the production of probiotic-containing particles, which is simpler compared with current encapsulation technologies and has a lot of potential to be used for the controlled release of probiotics and potentially other solid bioactives in the large intestine.Key Points• Chitosan gel particles is a simple and scalable method of probiotic encapsulation.• Autoclaving agar-gelatin particles increases their stability at low pH.• Chitosan gel particles protected L. plantarum during gastrointestinal conditions.• Probiotics could be controlled release in the colon using chitosan gel particles.
A novel concept is proposed in which alginate capsules containing a model probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum strain are coated with different surfactants with the aim to enhance cell survival during passage initially through simulated gastric (SGF) and then intestinal (SIF) fluid. The surfactants investigated included the anionic sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) and ammonium lauryl sulphate (ALS), the cationic dimethyldioctadecylammonium chloride (DDAC), benzalkonium chloride (BZK) and hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), and the zwitterionic lecithin. Coating the alginate capsules with CTAB, BZK, ALS and SDS resulted in worst survival (~ 4-9 log CFU/g decrease) compared to uncoated capsules (~3 log CFU/g decrease), after 1 hour exposure to SGF and two hours in SIF, which was most likely associated with their gradual penetration inside the microcapsules, as shown by confocal microscopy, and their antimicrobial effects. Coating the alginate capsules with DDAC improved cell survival compared to uncoated capsules (~1.2 CFU/g decrease), whereas coating with lecithin improved cell survival considerably, resulting in almost complete recovery of viable cells in SGF and SIF (~ 0.3 log CFU/g decrease). Although the interaction between alginate and lecithin was relatively weak as demonstrated by turbidity and contact angle measurements, it is likely that the protection was associated with the fact that lecithin was able to penetrate into the capsule rapidly, an observation that was supported by the fact that lecithin enhanced the viability of free cells in SGF and SIF. Lecithin has significant potential of being used as a coating material for probiotic containing capsules.
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