Studies on microencapsulation of probiotic bacteria to enhance their viability and survival

Abstract

quotBackground: Probiotic food contains certain beneficial microorganisms. These microbes can be easily isolated from varieties of sources. Potential microorganisms can be screened based on their pH resistance, bile salt resistance, antimicrobial and antibiotic resistance activities. newlineAim: Here a study is carried out to isolate potential probiotic microorganisms from cow milk, human breast milk, yogurt, cheese and traditional sweets and encapsulate to enhance their viability and survival. newlineMaterial and Methods: Selective media MRS and M17 were used for isolation. Based on colony morphology total 40 isolates from MRS media and 49 isolates from M17 media were obtained. All these isolates were further analyzed for their pH resistance, bile salt resistance, antimicrobial and antibiotic resistance. To determine the efficiency of probiotic microorganisms to survive under simulated gastric and intestinal condition, microorganisms were encapsulated with alginate, starch, chitosan and other matrix with respective methods. newlineResults and Discussion: Based on the results of these analyses, total eight different isolates were selected for further study. It was found that majority of the species belong to Lactobacilli family. Various matrices like alginate, starch, chitosan, vegetable oil along or in combination were used for encapsulation. Results have shown that combination of alginate/starch and alginate/chitosan are best for encapsulation. newlineConclusion: Based on the study, it was concluded that selective media enable to isolate probiotic microorganisms from different sources. Certain basic study can be helpful in screening of potential probiotics from population and they can be stored for long term by lyophilization. Each type of product may contain different type of probiotic strains which can be isolated and applied after optimization of various parameters.quot