Effect of Encapsulated Probiotic Starter Culture on Rheological and Structural Properties of Natural Hydrogel Carriers Affected by Fermentation and Gastrointestinal Conditions

Effect of the formulation and structure of monoglyceride-based gels on the viability of probioticLactobacillus rhamnosusuponin vitrodigestion

“…It is well known that the microbial tolerance against digestionrelated stresses is strongly dependent not only on the microbial strain but also on the structure and physicochemical characteristics of the delivery system as well as the food containing them. 2,6,9,11,[15][16][17][18] In the last few decades, many in vitro digestion protocols have been developed to simulate the gastrointestinal fate of food components. [19][20][21][22][23][24] The application of these protocols could allow selecting the best performing strategy among different delivery strategies before in vivo validation.…”

“…However, they have rarely been applied to study the viability of probiotic bacteria introduced in differently structured systems. 9,18,[25][26][27] Starting from our previous study, in the present work, the aim was to understand the role of the composition and resulting structure of monoglyceride-based gels in the survival of a probiotic L. rhamnosus strain during storage at 4°C as well as upon in vitro digestion. For this purpose, binary (hydrogel) and ternary (emulsion-gel) systems containing MGs as structuring agents, i.e., a water phase composed of an aqueous solution at controlled pH or UHT skimmed milk, and ternary gels, such as sunflower oil were considered.…”

Natural Macromolecules as Carriers for Essential Oils: From Extraction to Biomedical Application

“…Extrusion is the technique that can be used in combination with coacervation. This technique is suitable for preparing (1) polysaccharide monophase and multiphase hydrogel matrices, and (2) polysaccharide–protein hydrogel blends in the form of microbeads (Nedović et al, 2011 ; Volić et al, 2018 ; Obradovic et al, 2019 ). The advantages of extrusion are (1) the chemical stability of beads under storage conditions and gastric conditions, (2) the mechanical stability of the beads, and (3) the possibility of encapsulation of hydrophobic or hydrophilic active compounds.…”

“…Addition of whey proteins significantly enhances stability of polysaccharide carriers against pepsin attack. Consequently, such type of carrier is suitable for various applications in biomedicine and food technology (Volić et al, 2018 ; Obradovic et al, 2019 ). Finally, different reused vegetable oils could be used especially for (nano)emulsion systems, such as sunflower or palm oil for recovery of glycerol, triglycerides, and other lipid compounds used for EO delivery (e.g., Maes et al, 2019 ), in addition to oils extracted from seeds originating from agro-industrial waste, such as, for example, grape, guava, melon, passion fruit, pumpkin, soursop, and tomato seeds (Silva and da, 2014 ).…”

“…These macromolecules can be extracted from wastes of vegetable industrial processing by applying various chemical or enzymatic techniques (Poli et al, 2011 ). Polysaccharide hydrogels have been mixed with natural proteins, such as soy proteins, whey proteins, lecithin, and some others, in order to improve their chemical stability under gastric conditions for various biomedical and biotechnological applications, including EO encapsulation (Volić et al, 2018 ; Obradovic et al, 2019 ).…”