Nanoencapsulation for Probiotic Delivery

Abstract

Gut microbiota dynamically participate in diverse physiological activities with direct impact on the host’s health. A range of factors associated with the highly complex intestinal flora ecosystem poses challenges in regulating the homeostasis of microbiota. The consumption of live probiotic bacteria, in principle, can address these challenges and confer health benefits. In this context, one of the major problems is ensuring the survival of probiotic cells when faced with physical and chemical assaults during their intake and subsequent gastrointestinal passage to the gut. Advances in the field have focused on improving conventional encapsulation techniques in the microscale to achieve high cell viability, gastric and temperature resistance, and longer shelf lives. However, these microencapsulation approaches are known to have limitations with possible difficulties in clinical translation. In this Perspective, we present a brief overview of the current progress of different probiotic encapsulation methods and highlight the contemporary and emerging single-cell encapsulation strategies using nanocoatings for individual probiotic cells. Finally, we discuss the relative advantages of various nanoencapsulation approaches and the future trend toward developing coated probiotics with advanced features and health benefits.

Islet Encapsulation: New Developments for the Treatment of Type 1 Diabetes

“…Enhance the delivery of attached or encapsulated substances by constructing nanoparticles with specific properties and release characteristics. Unlike other encapsulate methods that immobilize the cells or substances to be encapsulated in a micron-sized gel matrix, nanoencapsulation methods are usually based on the formation of nanomembranes around cells or organs ( 102 , 103 ). Nanoencapsulation is a technology for encapsulating islets through conformal coating ( 104 ), mostly relying on the use of a nozzle method ( 105 ).…”

Lactobacillus paracasei CNCM I 1572: A Promising Candidate for Management of Colonic Diverticular Disease

“…The minimum quantity to obtain a temporary colonization of the intestine is generally at least 1 billion live cells per day [ 28 ]. Probiotics must also be resistant to gastric acid and bile to survive through the gastrointestinal tract [ 29 , 30 , 31 ]. Once present in the colon, probiotics must adhere to the colon’s epithelial cells to ensure adequate colonization [ 32 ].…”

Cell‐Mediated Biointerfacial Phenolic Assembly for Probiotic Nano Encapsulation

“…For enhancing the survival of probiotics, conventional bulk encapsulation techniques [ 14 ] suffer from a lack of control in particle size, [ 15 ] cell leakage, [ 16 ] and limited in vivo colonization. [ 17–19 ] As a result, mimicking the biological preservation mechanism found in nature, several types of individual‐cell nanocoating methods including metal‐organic frameworks, phenolic coordination complexes, inorganic shells have been demonstrated for various microorganisms. [ 19,20 ] However, the applications and compatibility of these methods have remained limited for probiotic cell encapsulation.…”

“…[ 17–19 ] As a result, mimicking the biological preservation mechanism found in nature, several types of individual‐cell nanocoating methods including metal‐organic frameworks, phenolic coordination complexes, inorganic shells have been demonstrated for various microorganisms. [ 19,20 ] However, the applications and compatibility of these methods have remained limited for probiotic cell encapsulation. Many of such coatings fail to simultaneously protect the probiotics in the highly acidic environment of the stomach and incorporate the adhesive properties for attaching to the gut epithelium.…”