In vitro synbiotic activity of Lactobacillus plantarum encapsulated with mixtures of Aloe vera mucilage, agave fructans and food additives as wall materials

In recent years, the development of functional and synbiotic food products has been focused on the study of synbiotic matrices, were a prebiotic and a probiotic are combined to increase the health benefits to the host. In this work the in vitro synbiotic activities of Lactobacillus plantarum microcapsules with Aloe vera mucilage, high degree of polymerization agave fructans and food additives as wall materials were evaluated. The synbiotic behavior was assessed by rheological mucoadhesion, simulation of gastrointestinal digestion, growth inhibition of pathogens, antibiotic activity of extracellular metabolites and viability of the probiotic during storage at room and refrigeration temperatures. Rheological studies demonstrated that the biopolymer mixture interact with intestinal adhesion proteins (mucin) by the formation of weak gels with hydrogen bonds. During the simulated gastrointestinal digestion, the viability of the microorganism released from mixtures with arabic gum increases after two hours, which evidence microorganism release from the capsule. The extracellular metabolites extract (e.g. butyric, lactic and acetic acids) proved to be significantly more effective in the growth inhibition of pathogens and the storage viability reduction is lower than 0.5 log CFU/g after 70 days. To our knowledge, these results show for the first time, that microcapsules of a known probiotic encapsulated with Aloe vera mucilage, agave fructans of high degree of polymerization and arabic gum, do behave as a synbiotic matrix, guaranteeing that the probiotic will produce potential health benefits and could be used in the formulation of functional foods and products.

Keywords: Synbiotic, Microencapsulation, Rheological Mucoadhesion, Antibiotic activity.