• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.200-208
• /
• 2019

Probiotics show low cell viability after oral administration because they have difficulty surviving in the stomach due to low pH and enzymes. For the oral delivery of probiotics, developing a formula that protects the probiotic bacteria from gastric acidity while providing living cells is mandatory. In this study, we developed tablets using a new pH-sensitive phthalyl inulin (PI) to protect probiotics from gastric conditions and investigated the effects of different compression forces on cell survival. We made three different tablets under different compression forces and measured survivability, disintegration time, and kinetics in simulated gastric-intestinal fluid. During tableting, there were no significant differences in probiotic viability among the different compression forces although disintegration time was affected by the compression force. A higher compression force resulted in higher viability in simulated gastric fluid. The swelling degree of the PI tablets in simulated intestinal fluid was higher than that of the tablets in simulated gastric fluid due to the pH sensitivity of the PI. The probiotic viability formulated in the tablets was also higher in acidic gastric conditions than that for probiotics in solution. Rapid release of the probiotics from the tablet occurred in the simulated intestinal fluid due to the pH sensitivity. After 6 months of refrigeration, the viability of the PI probiotics was kept. Overall, this is the first study to show the pH-sensitive properties of PI and one that may be useful for oral delivery of the probiotics.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.510-519
• /
• 2018

Synbiotics are a combination of probiotics and prebiotics, which lead to synergistic benefits in host welfare. Probiotics have been used as an alternative to antibiotics. Among the probiotics, Pediococcus acidilactici (PA) has shown excellent antimicrobial activity against Salmonella Gallinarum (SG) as a major poultry pathogen and has improved the production performances of animals. Inulin is widely used as a prebiotic for the improvement of animal health and growth. The main aim of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial activity of inulin nanoparticle (IN)-internalized PA encapsulated into alginate/chitosan/alginate (ACA) microcapsules (MCs) for future in vivo application. The prepared phthalyl INs (PINs) were characterized by DLS and FE-SEM. The contents of phthal groups in the PINs were estimated by $^1H-NMR$ measurement as 25.1 mol.-%. The sizes of the PINs measured by DLS were approximately 203 nm. Internalization into PA was confirmed by confocal microscopy and flow cytometry. The antimicrobial activity of PIN-internalized probiotics encapsulated into ACA MCs was measured by coculture antimicrobial assays on SG. PIN-internalized probiotics had a higher antimicrobial ability than that of ACA MCs loaded with PA/inulin or PA. Interestingly, when PINs were treated with PA and encapsulated into ACA MCs, as a natural antimicrobial peptide, pediocin was produced much more in the culture medium compared with other groups with inulin-loaded ACA MCs and PA encapsulated into ACA MCs.