Study and Understanding Behavior of Alginate-Inulin Synbiotics Beads
for Protection and Delivery of Antimicrobial-Producing Probiotics
in Colonic Simulated Conditions
Abdelbasset Atia
1,2,3
&
Ahmed Gomaa
1,2,4
&
Benoit Fernandez
1,2
&
Muriel Subirade
1,2
&
Ismail Fliss
1,2
Published online: 27 November 2017
#
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2017
Abstract
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), using antibiotics as growth promoters for livestock—particularly swine—is
the principal cause of antibiotic resistance. It is therefore clear that finding an alternative to antibiotics becomes an emergency.
Hundreds of recent studies have appointed probiotics as potential candidates to replace or to be used in combination with
antibiotics. However, bringing probiotics alive to the colon—their site of action—remains a big challenge because of different
physiological barriers encountered in proximal gastrointestinal tract (GIT) such as acidic pH and bile salts that may affect the
viability of probiotic cultures. To overcome this problem, in previous studies, we developed and characterize a synbiotic formula
consisting of beads of a mixture of alginate and inulin. Three potential probiotics strains namely Pediococcus acidilactici UL5
(UL5), Lactobacillus reuteri (LR), and Lactobacillus salivarius (LS) were encapsulated to study their release and the behavior of
this synbiotic formula throughout the GIT using in vitro models. The survival and the release of bacteria from beads were studied
by specific PMA-qPCR counting. The microscopic aspects of the beads were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
Moreover, the microbial dynamics inside beads were studied by fluorescence microscopy using the live/dead test. Our results
have shown that the beads containing 5% inulin were the most stable in the stomach and throughout the small intestine. However,
beads were completely degraded in approximately 3 h of incubation in the fermented medium that mimic the colon. These results
were confirmed by SEM and fluorescence microscopy images. Therefore, it can be stated that the AI5 formulation well protected
the bacteria in the upper part of the digestive tract and allowed their controlled release in the colon.
Keywords Colonic delivery
.
Colonic behavior
.
Inulin-alginate beads
.
prebiotics
.
probiotics
Introduction
In modern pharmaceutical field, drugs are defined as de-
livery system of an active ingredient, which follows the
conventional steps of the LADMER system (Liberation,
Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion and
Response). The first letter of this acronym BL^ refers to
the step of liberation (release) which is a crucial step [1,
2]. For biopharmacists, a rapid release of the active ingre-
dient is generally sought to induce a therapeutic activity
in a short time as in the case of pain killers which are
intended to relieve the patient quickly [3, 4]. However, in
some cases, a slowed or delayed release of active ingre-
dient may be desired to prolong the duration of therapeu-
tic action or to reach relatively distant target sites in the
digestive tract as in the case of probiotics which act main-
ly in the colon [5–7].
The colonic microbiota contains a very complex and di-
verse ecosystem [8]. The cell population of the gut is estimat-
ed to be ten times higher than the total cells constituting the
host [9, 10]. This cell population is composed of over than
1100 different species and contains 100 times more genes than
the host [11]. The colon is of such importance in farmed
* Ismail Fliss
Ismail.Fliss@fsaa.ulaval.ca
1
Department of Food Science, Université Laval, Québec G1V 0A6,
Canada
2
Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods (INAF), Université Laval,
Québec G1V 0A6, Canada
3
Biena | Probiotics and Lactic Cultures, 2955 Rue Cartier,
Saint-Hyacinthe, QC J2S 1L4, Canada
4
Food Science and Nutrition Department, National Research Center,
Dokki, Cairo, Egypt
Probiotics and Antimicrobial Proteins (2018) 10:157–167
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12602-017-9355-x
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