The cell wall compound of Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a novel wall material for encapsulation of probiotics

Yeast cell wall is known as a food grade ingredient which is recently being used increasingly as a novel coating for encapsulation of different materials in the food industry. This application is limited to core materials smaller than yeast in size. In this study, we have tried to encapsulate larger particles by crushing yeast cells. Hence, probiotic bacteria of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacteriwn bifidum were encapsulated firstly by calcium alginate using the emulsion method and these microbeads were coated again by Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell wall compound and another layer of calcium alginate. The average diameter of microcapsules for single layer microbeads (M), microbeads coated by two layers of alginate (MCA), and microbeads coated by a layer of yeast cell and two layers of alginate (MCYA) were 54.25 +/- 0.18, 77.43 +/- 824 and 103.66 +/- 1333 mu m, respectively. In simulated gastrointestinal conditions, there was a significant (P < 0.05) enhancement in resistance of L acidophilus when applying a layer of S. cerevisiae cell wall compound. For MCA and MCYA after 2 h exposure to simulated gastric juice, it was revealed a log reduction of 1.53 +/- 0.1 and 1.1 +/- 0.02 with pH 1.55 and in simulated intestinal juice, 2.92 +/- 0.04 and 2.42 +/- 0.06 with 0.6% bile after previous 1 h incubation in gastric conditions, respectively. It can be concluded that the cell wall compound of S. cerevisiae is a suitable protective coating for probiotics and it can improve the survival of probiotics within food products. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.