It is postulated that probiotic bacteria play a role in maintaining good health and they have been shown to alleviate the symptoms of some common conditions such as traveller’s diarrhoea. If the bacteria are to be ingested orally, they must withstand an acid challenge in the stomach before they can reach the intestine to act. A common strategy to reduce bacterial cell death is encapsulation, usually using a polymer matrix. The naturally occurring polysaccharide alginate is the most popular probiotic encapsulation-based material.
In this hot paper, Khutoryanskiy, Charalampopoulos and co-workers evaluate the production of alginate matrices coated with multilayers of alternating alginate and chitosan as viable encapsulation materials for probiotic bacteria. The authors show, that the multilayers are stable in both simulated gastric and intestinal solutions, with encapsulation in 3-layer coated matrices giving the highest recovery of viable cells. It is suggested that this method of encapsulation could be used to protect orally administrated probiotics from the low pH of the stomach.
Layer-by-layer coating of alginate matrices with chitosan–alginate for the improved survival and targeted delivery of probiotic bacteria after oral administration
J. Mater. Chem. B , 2013, Advance Article. DOI: 10.1039/c2tb00126h (free to read for a short time)
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In this hot paper, Khutoryanskiy, Charalampopoulos and co-workers evaluate the production of alginate matrices coated with multilayers of alternating alginate and chitosan as viable encapsulation materials for probiotic bacteria. The authors show, that the multilayers are stable in both simulated gastric and intestinal solutions, with encapsulation in 3-layer coated matrices giving the highest recovery of viable cells. It is suggested that this method of encapsulation could be used to protect orally administrated probiotics from the low pH of the stomach.
