Study on the microcapsules of Bifidobacterium prepared by internal emulsification method

• 1、School of Food Science and Technology,Jiangnan University, JiangSu WuXi 214122

Abstract：Bifidobacterium bifidum was encapsulated with alginate by internal emulsification method with the objective of enhancing viability during exposure to the adverse conditions of the gastro-intestinal tract. Effect of washing medium and the processing parameters on the characteristics of the microspheres containing Bifidobacterium bifidum were investigated. The acid tolerance and enteric solubility were also studied in this paper. Based on the size distribution, encapsulation efficiency, the optimal conditions were determined as follows: 1%（v/v）Tween 80 in aqueous solution as washing medium, the volume ratio of Span 80 to oil 1% (v/v)，the volume ratio of water to oil 30:100, stirring speed 400 r/min，the mass ration of CaCO3 to alginate sodium 7.5:40，the mole ratio of glacial acetic acid to CaCO3 3.5:1. Under this condition, the average size of the microspheres reached to 116 μm , and the encapsulation yield of Bifidobacterium bifidum was 89.8%. Besides, compared to free cells, the viability of Bifidobacterium bifidum loaded in alginate during exposure to simulated gastric juice and sequential gastrio-intestinal juice increased two and three log respectively. After the treatment of stimulated intestinal juice for 60 min, almost all microcapsules disintegrated.

Keywords： Bifidobacterium bifidum internal emulsification microcapsule viable cell count