Effects of Electrospinning on the Viability of Ten Species of Lactic Acid Bacteria in Poly(Ethylene Oxide) Nanofibers

Abstract

Lactic acid bacteria can have beneficial health effects and be used for the treatment of various diseases. However, there remains the challenge of encapsulating probiotics into delivery systems with a high viability and encapsulation efficacy. The electrospinning of bacteria is a novel and little-studied method, and further investigation of its promising potential is needed. Here, the morphology, zeta potential, hydrophobicity, average cell mass, and growth characteristics of nine different species of Lactobacillus and one of Lactococcus are characterized. The electrospinning of polymer solutions containing ~10 log colony forming units (CFU)/mL lactic acid bacteria enabled the successful incorporation of all bacterial species tested, from the smallest (0.74 µm; Lactococcus lactis) to the largest (10.82 µm; Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus), into poly(ethylene oxide) nanofibers with an average diameter of ~100 nm. All of these lactobacilli were viable after incorporation into nanofibers, with 0 to 3 log CFU/mg loss in viability, depending on the species. Viability correlated with the hydrophobicity and extreme length of lactic acid bacteria, whereas a horizonal or vertical electrospinning set-up did not have any role. Therefore, electrospinning represents a promising method for the incorporation of lactic acid bacteria into solid delivery systems, while drying the bacterial dispersion at the same time.

Electrospun Nanofibers as Carriers of Microorganisms, Stem Cells, Proteins, and Nucleic Acids in Therapeutic and Other Applications

“…salivarius), together with Lactococcus lactis were compared for their incorporation into PEO nanofibers. All of these species remained viable after their incorporation, and their viability correlated with cell hydrophobicity (Zupancic et al, 2019).…”

“…To date, several types of biological products have been included in nanofibers to improve their delivery in medical applications (Figure 1). Among the cells used, probiotic bacteria have been incorporated most often (Heunis et al, 2010;Akbar et al, 2018;Skrlec et al, 2019;Zupancic et al, 2019). Cyanobacteria and fungus are also incorporated and they have therapeutic, agricultural and environmental properties.…”

“…For example, adding Lactobacillus plantarum into polyethylene oxide (PEO) solutions increases the conductivity due to the extracellular proteins and ions introduced with the probiotics (Skrlec et al, 2019). Furthermore, different concentrations of bacteria can increase the viscosity of the polymer solution (Zupancic et al, 2019).…”

An Updated Overview on Nanonutraceuticals: Focus on Nanoprebiotics and Nanoprobiotics

“…The authors suggested how thermal behavior of nanofibers suggested possible thermal protection of probiotics in heat-processed foods. Nagy et al [177] by investigating the suitability of electrospinning for biodrugs delivery to produce vaginal drug delivery systems, concluded how nanofibers can provide long term stability for huge amounts of living bacteria if they are kept at (or below) 7 • C. The recent work of Zupancic et al [178], who studied the incorporation of a range of safe lactic acid bacteria into poly(ethylene oxide)-based nanofibers, evidenced that all of the lactic acid bacteria were viable after incorporation into nanofibers, with 0-3 log CFU/mg loss in viability, depending on the species. Moreover, the authors reported that viability can be correlated with the hydrophobicity and to the extreme length of lactic acid bacteria, whereas a horizontal or vertical electrospinning set-up did not have any role.…”

Recent Development of Electrospinning for Drug Delivery

“…Viability correlated with the hydrophobicity and extreme length of lactic acid bacteria, whereas a horizontal or vertical electrospinning set-up did not have any role. Therefore, electrospinning represents a promising method for the incorporation of lactic acid bacteria into solid delivery systems, while drying the bacterial dispersion at the same time [8].…”