Duan Mengwen, Che Liming, Wu Xuee, Quek Siew Young, Zhang Bangzhou, Lin Hao, He Ning
Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, PR China.
Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, PR China.
Carbohydr Polym. 2025 Jul 1;359:123566. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2025.123566. Epub 2025 Mar 30.
Probiotics and prebiotics serve as vital tools in managing gut microecology and enhancing immune responses. However, the effectiveness of non-encapsulated probiotics often diminishes during processing, storage, and transport to the gastrointestinal tract, especially at elevated temperatures. To address this challenge, a novel loading strategy for Lactobacillus reuteri DPC16 (L. reuteri) is proposed in this work, using pressure-sensitive high-methoxy pectin (HMP)/fructooligosaccharides (FOS) hydrogel. The HMP/FOS hydrogel melted at 600 MPa to form a sol. The resulting sol was mixed with L. reuteri immediately at ambient conditions, which underwent a sol-to-gel transition subsequently to form a composite hydrogel with a continuous porous structure. The resulting HMP/FOS@L. reuteri hydrogel achieved a loading concentration of viable bacteria at 10 CFU/mL. In vitro assessments reveal that the hydrogel demonstrates good biocompatibility and targeted release of probiotics within the intestine. Furthermore, the hydrogel substantially boosted the short-chain fatty acids levels and increased the amounts of acetic and isovaleric acids, respectively. This work underscores the unique advantages of employing a pressure-sensitive HMP/FOS hydrogel for loading and targeted delivery of probiotics and prebiotics to improve intestinal health.
益生菌和益生元是调节肠道微生态和增强免疫反应的重要工具。然而，未包封的益生菌在加工、储存和运输至胃肠道的过程中，其有效性通常会降低，尤其是在温度升高时。为应对这一挑战，本研究提出了一种用于罗伊氏乳杆菌DPC16（L. reuteri）的新型负载策略，即使用压敏型高甲氧基果胶（HMP）/低聚果糖（FOS）水凝胶。HMP/FOS水凝胶在600 MPa压力下熔化形成溶胶。所得溶胶在环境条件下立即与L. reuteri混合，随后发生溶胶-凝胶转变，形成具有连续多孔结构的复合水凝胶。所得的HMP/FOS@L. reuteri水凝胶实现了10 CFU/mL的活菌负载浓度。体外评估表明，该水凝胶具有良好的生物相容性，并能在肠道内实现益生菌的靶向释放。此外，该水凝胶显著提高了短链脂肪酸水平，分别增加了乙酸和异戊酸的含量。这项工作强调了使用压敏型HMP/FOS水凝胶负载和靶向递送益生菌和益生元以改善肠道健康的独特优势。
