Microencapsulation of probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus plantarum 15HN using alginate-psyllium-fenugreek polymeric blends.

Investigation on the use of herbal-based biopolymers for probiotic-Lactobacillus plantarum 15HN-encapsulation is presented. The objectives are to enhance its oral delivery, colonic release and survival rate of these probiotic cultures in gastrointestinal environment. Nine types of herbal-based polymers blend with different concentration of alginate alone or mixed with psyllium and fenugreek was used as candidate for encapsulation matrix by applying a simple extrusion method. All the blend formulations recorded high encapsulation efficiency at value >98%. The survival rate of viable probiotic cells under both low pH and high bile salt conditions was also high with value above 80% in 2% (w/v) alginate, alginate+psyllium (1·5 + 0·5%) blend and alginate+fenugreek (1·5 + 0·5%) blend as compared to other polymer formulations and nonencapsulated cells. Their release occurred after 2 h in colonic condition and sustained until the 12th hour incubation period. A value added prebiotic effect was observed in (1·5 + 0·5%) alginate-psyllium formulation. The high encapsulation efficiency, high viability of cell in low pH, high bile salt and the sustained release rates of probiotic cells in colonic condition during storage time was also observed for these herbal gel formulations. Herbal-based biopolymers offer added advantages of being prebiotic towards the enhancement of probiotic bacterial growth in the gastrointestinal environment.