Viability of encapsulated lactic acid bacteria

ROSS GLORIA ROMINA; GUSILS CARLOS; GONZÁLEZ SILVIA

BIOCELL

Instituto de Histología y Embriología "Dr. Mario H. Burgos". CONICET

Lugar: Mendoza - Argentina; Año: 2006 vol. 30 p. 190 - 190

0327-9545

Encapsulation is a process used to protect substances against oxidation, to improve their  transport, etc. There is a wide kind of coating materials: hydrogenated oils, starches and gums like sodium alginate. The aim of this work was study the viability and survival in gastrointestinal conditions of probiotic lactic acid bacteria encapsulated in calcium alginate. The optimal encapsulation process was achieved using same relation (v/v) of non fat milk cell suspension (20%) and sodium alginate (1,8%). It was also added EDTA (1%) This mixture was aseptically dropped in calcium chloride solution (0.1M) bringing up capsules. The survival of encapsulated bacteria in simulated gastrointestinal conditions was studied. Electron microscopy was used to demonstrated shape and structure of capsules and also presence of viable cells inside them. The results of this study indicated that calcium alginate encapsulation protects lactic acid bacteria of gastrointestinal conditions Our data demonstrated that calcium alginate capsules were able to keep viable cells inside them and therefore they could be used as a safe delivery vehicle  for administering probiotic bacteria.