Abstract
Probiotics possess potential therapeutic and preventative effects for various diseases and metabolic disorders. One important limitation for the oral delivery of probiotics is the harsh conditions of the upper gastrointestinal tract (GIT) which challenge bacterial viability and activity. One proposed method to surpass this obstacle is the use of microencapsulation to improve the delivery of bacterial cells to the lower GIT. The aim of this study is to use alginate-poly-L-lysine-alginate (APA) microcapsules to encapsulate Lactobacillus fermentum NCIMB 5221 and characterize its enzymatic activity and viability through a simulated GIT. This specific strain, in previous research, was characterized for its inherent ferulic acid esterase (FAE) activity which could prove beneficial in the development of a therapeutic for the treatment and prevention of cancers and metabolic disorders. Our findings demonstrate that the APA microcapsule does not slow the mass transfer of substrate into and that of the FA product out of the microcapsule, while also not impairing bacterial cell viability. The use of simulated gastrointestinal conditions led to a significant 2.5 log difference in viability between the free (1.10 × 104 ± 1.00 × 103 cfu/mL) and the microencapsulated (5.50 × 106 ± 1.00 × 105 cfu/mL) L. fermentum NCIMB 5221 following exposure. The work presented here suggests that APA microencapsulation can be used as an effective oral delivery method for L. fermentum NCIMB 5221, a FAE-active probiotic strain.
Highlights
Ferulic acid (FA), a naturally found phenolic acid, is a potent antioxidant able to neutralize free radicals, such as Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) [1]
The microcapsules had a final viability of 1.21 × 109 ± 9.54 × 107 cfu/g, suggesting no significant loss of bacterial viability due to the process of APA microencapsulation
Each point represents the mean of triplicates and the error bars represent the standard deviations. These results demonstrate no significant difference in FA production between the free and encapsulated L. fermentum NCIMB 5221
Summary
Ferulic acid (FA), a naturally found phenolic acid, is a potent antioxidant able to neutralize free radicals, such as Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) [1]. The oral delivery of free FA is hampered by its quick absorption in the small intestine, in the jejunum, followed by its rapid excretion [9,10]. It has been proposed, and shown in previous studies that some GIT bacterial strains produce FAE, an enzyme that has the inherent capability to produce FA from available substrates in the GIT (see Figure 1). This article investigates the use of APA microencapsulation for the viable delivery of the FAE active Lactobacillus fermentum NCIMB 5221 to the colon. The results should demonstrate the efficiency of APA microcapsules to increase the viability of this specific probiotic strain in the GIT while preserving enzymatic activity in terms of FA production
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