Influence of polysaccharide as co-encapsulant on powder characteristics, survival and viability of microencapsulated Lactobacillus paracasei Lpc-37 by spray drying

In the present work, five polysaccharides were selected as co-encapsulant of skim milk based matrix and used for the microencapsulation of Lactobacillus parocusei Lpc-37 by spray drying. The morphological characterization, physical properties, encapsulation efficiency, gastrointestinal simulation, and storage stability of microencapsules were examined to evaluate the protective capacity against the adverse conditions of the different wall matrices. Addition of polysaccharides was associated with the enhancement of physical performance of microencapsulated powders, such as the flowability and water activity. Encapsulation matrices containing gum Arabic showed the greatest encapsulation efficiency of 97.1% (maximum survival 7.78 log CFU/g). L. paracasei Lpc-37 encapsulated with the matrices incorporating sodium alginate or sodium carboxymethylcellulose exhibited higher survival ( > 6.5 log CFU/g) after exposed to simulated gastrointestinal condition and lower viability loss ( < 0.3 log CFU/g) after 8 weeks of refrigerated storage. The application of polysaccharides, however, showed the tendency of higher hygroscopicity and lower stability of the powders in high temperature and humid environment.