Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Disruptions to the human gut microbiota (dysbiosis) by environmental intrusions (e.g., bad dietary habits, use of antibiotics, stress, and aging) negatively impact health and well-being. Oral administration of probiotics (live microorganisms) can provide a convenient intervention to restore healthy gut microbiota functioning. However, probiotics are sensitive to environmental conditions and have limited stability during food processing, storage, and transit through the gastrointestinal tract. This limits the effectiveness ofimproving human health. Thus,there is a critical need for an innovative encapsulation technique that will promote probiotics' stability during food processing while enabling effective delivery to the colon. The proposed study aims to demonstrate the feasibility of developing 3D food printing approaches to enable stable delivery of viable probiotics and generate beneficial, shelf-stable probiotics-laden food products to address gut dysbiosis and associated health issues.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
60%
Developmental
40%
Goals / Objectives
The goal of this project is to develop an innovative platform technology based on 3D food printing to encapsulate probiotics to enhance their stability during food processing, storage, and throughout the gastroinestinaltract.The objectives toward achieving this goal are: (1)Create starch microgel beads coated with alginate-pectin using a 3D printer equipped with a coaxial nozzle, and compare them with the conventional microgel formation method,(2)Determine optimal conditions for encapsulating a model probiotic, B. bifidum, and a probiotics cocktail in alginate-pectin microgels using 3D food printing, and then evaluate surface coating with an additional lipid (trilaurin) layer, and(3)Fortify yogurt and cookies with encapsulated probiotics and evaluate their viability during processing, storage, and simulated digestion.
Project Methods
Our approach is to encapsulating probiotics using 3D food printing is new andunique method that protects probiotics and has the potential to increase their food applications. A one-of-a-kind approach based on 3D food printing will be used to control the microstructure of microgel and encapsulate probiotics. We will employ a coaxial nozzle to print two different streams simultaneously in different channels to create multilayer microgels that encapsulate probiotics in pH-responsive biopolymers in a one-step process.To create microgel beads using a 3D printer equipped with a coaxialnozzle (objective 1), high amylose corn starch, alginate, and pectin will be selected because they are inexpensive, abundant, and GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) carbohydrate polymers that form three-dimensional porous network structures, providing heat stability and pH-sensitive release.Commercially available B. bifidum freeze-dried powder (PRBT-004) or ten strains premix of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium powder (PRBT-030) (Creative Enzymes, NY) will be used to determine optimal conditions for encapsulating a model probiotic (objective 2). They will be gently mixed with the high amylose corn starch gel.Probiotics-loaded microgels will be produced at the optimum production conditions, then freeze-dried and coated with a trilaurin layer by dipping it into molten lipids.The distribution of the microorganisms within the microgels will be analyzed using SEM, CLSM, and flow cytometry. The number of microorganisms will be determined, before and after 3D printing, freeze-drying, and lipid coating, using the spread plate count method with the de Man, Rogosa, and Sharpe (MRS) agar.The initial load of microorganisms will be determined based on their survival during food processing and simulated digestion steps. For objective 3, the probiotics-loaded microgels will be mixed with a commercially available yogurt and cookie dough formulation. Encapsulated probiotics (before and after incorporating in yogurt and cookies) will be subjected to sequential oral, gastric, and intestinal digestion in an aerobic chamber. The viability of probiotics will be determined throughout processing (i.e., mixing, baking), storage, and digestion using the plate count method. Probiotics that are unencapsulated and encapsulated with the conventional method will be used as controls.