Encapsulation of Probiotic Bacteria Lactobacillus Acidophilus by Direct Compression

• Published in: Food and bioproducts processing 2002, Vol.80 (2), p.78-82
• Main Authors: Chan, E.S., Zhang, Z.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: bacteria; Biological and medical sciences; Biotechnology; cell viability; cellulose; coatings; compression; encapsulation; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Immobilization of organelles and whole cells; Immobilization techniques; Lactobacillus acidophilus; Methods. Procedures. Technologies; pellets; powders; probiotic; probiotics; shelf life; sodium alginate; storage quality; tabletting
• ISSN: 0960-3085; 1744-3571
• DOI: 10.1205/09603080252938708

The objective of the work is to evaluate the potential use of compression coating as an alternative method for the encapsulation of probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus acidophilus to improve their storage stability. Microbial cell containing powders were first compressed into a pellet, which was then encapsulated with a coating material of a combination of sodium alginate and hydroxypropyl cellulose by further compression. The effect of compression pressure on cell viability was studied. Results showed that compression of the microbial cell containing powders at pressures up to 90 MPa caused little loss of viability of the bacteria. Beyond 90MPa, the cell viability decreased almost linearly with the compression pressure. Further compression to form a coating did not cause significant reduction in the cell viability. The stability of the encapsulated bacteria using the compression pressures up to 60MPa was approximately 10 times higher than free cell containing powders and cell pellets after 30 days storage at 25°C.