Encapsulation of probiotic Bifidobacterium longum BIOMA 5920 with alginate-human-like collagen and evaluation of survival in simulated gastrointestinal conditions

Alginate (ALg)-human-like collagen (HLC) microspheres were prepared by the technology of electrostatic droplet generation in order to develop a biocompatible vehicle for probiotic bacteria. Microparticles were spherical with mean particle size of 400 mu m. The encapsulation efficiency (EE) of ALg-HLC microspheres could reach 92-99.2%. Water-soluble and fibrous human-like collagen is combined with sodium alginate through intermolecular hydrogen bonding and electrostatic force which were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FOR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSc), thus the matrix of ALg-HLC was very stable. Bifidobacterium longum BIOMA 5920, as a kind of probiotic bacteria, was encapsulated with alginate-human-like collagen to survive and function in simulated gastrointestinal juice. Microparticles were very easy to degradation in simulated intestinal juices. After incubation in simulated gastric (pH 2.0, 2 h), the encapsulated B. longum BIOMA 5920 numbers were 4.81 +/- 0.38 log cfu/g. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.