The probiotic Lactobacillus acidophilus KBL409 was encapsulated with alginate (Al) and alginate-chitosan (Al/Chi) through extrusion method. The sizes and zeta potentials of microspheres were measured to confirm encapsulation. To evaluate the protective effect of microspheres against gastrointestinal fluids, all the samples were exposed to simulated gastric fluids (SGFs, pH 1.5) at 37°C for 1 or 2 h, followed by incubation with simulated intestinal fluids (SIFs, pH 6.5) for 2 h. The mucoadhesive ability of microspheres was evaluated using the intestinal epithelial cell line HT29-MTX. To extend the shelf-life of probiotics, lyoprotectants such as disaccharide and polysaccharide were mixed with free or encapsulated cells during the freeze-drying process. The size of the microspheres demonstrated a narrow distribution, while the zeta potentials of Al and Al/Chi-microspheres were -17.9 ± 2.3 and 20.4 ± 2.6 mV, respectively. Among all the samples, Al/Chi-encapsulated cells showed the highest survival rate even after exposure to SGF and SIF. The mucoadhesive abilities of Al and Al/Chi-microspheres were higher than 94%, whereas the free L. acidophilus showed 88.1% mucoadhesion. Ten percent of sucrose showed over 80% survival rate in free or encapsulated cells. Therefore, L. acidophilus encapsulated with Al and Al/Chi-microspheres showed higher survival rates after exposure to the gastrointestinal tract and better mucoadhesive abilities than the free cells. Also, sucrose showed the highest protective effect of L. acidophilus during the freeze-drying process.
Keywords: Encapsulation; Lactobacillus acidophilus; extrusion; intestinal survival; lycoprotectant; mucoadhesion.