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• Tomaro-Duchesneau, C
• Saha, S
• Malhotra, M
• Coussa-Charley, M
• Kahouli, I
• Jones, M
• Labbé, A
• Prakash, S
• [+] on Google Scholar
• Tomaro-Duchesneau, C
• Saha, S
• Malhotra, M
• Coussa-Charley, M
• Kahouli, I
• Jones, M
• Labbé, A
• Prakash, S
• [+] on PubMed
• Tomaro-Duchesneau, C
• Saha, S
• Malhotra, M
• Coussa-Charley, M
• Kahouli, I
• Jones, M
• Labbé, A
• Prakash, S

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Pharmaceuticals 2012, 5(2), 236-248; doi:10.3390/ph5020236

Article

Probiotic Ferulic Acid Esterase Active Lactobacillus fermentum NCIMB 5221 APA Microcapsules for Oral Delivery: Preparation and in Vitro Characterization

Catherine Tomaro-Duchesneau ¹ , Shyamali Saha ² , Meenakshi Malhotra ¹ , Michael Coussa-Charley ¹ , Imen Kahouli ³ , Mitchell L. Jones ⁴ , Alain Labbé ⁴  and Satya Prakash ^1,*

¹ Biomedical Technology and Cell Therapy Research Laboratory, Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Physiology, and Artificial Cells and Organs Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, 3775 University Street, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 2B4, Canada ² Faculty of Dentistry, McGill University, 3775 University Street, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 2B4, Canada ³ Department of Experimental Medicine, McGill University, 3775 University Street, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 2B4, Canada ⁴ Micropharma Limited, 141 President Kennedy Ave., UQAM Biological Sciences Building, 5th Floor, Suite 5569, Montreal, Quebec, H2X 3Y7, Canada

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 23 December 2011; in revised form: 3 February 2012 / Accepted: 10 February 2012 / Published: 16 February 2012

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Probiotics and Prebiotics)

Download PDF Full-Text [726 KB, uploaded 16 February 2012 10:42 CET]

Abstract: Probiotics possess potential therapeutic and preventative effects for various diseases and metabolic disorders. One important limitation for the oral delivery of probiotics is the harsh conditions of the upper gastrointestinal tract (GIT) which challenge bacterial viability and activity. One proposed method to surpass this obstacle is the use of microencapsulation to improve the delivery of bacterial cells to the lower GIT. The aim of this study is to use alginate-poly-L-lysine-alginate (APA) microcapsules to encapsulate Lactobacillus fermentum NCIMB 5221 and characterize its enzymatic activity and viability through a simulated GIT. This specific strain, in previous research, was characterized for its inherent ferulic acid esterase (FAE) activity which could prove beneficial in the development of a therapeutic for the treatment and prevention of cancers and metabolic disorders. Our findings demonstrate that the APA microcapsule does not slow the mass transfer of substrate into and that of the FA product out of the microcapsule, while also not impairing bacterial cell viability. The use of simulated gastrointestinal conditions led to a significant 2.5 log difference in viability between the free (1.10 × 10⁴ ± 1.00 × 10³ cfu/mL) and the microencapsulated (5.50 × 10⁶ ± 1.00 × 10⁵ cfu/mL) L. fermentum NCIMB 5221 following exposure. The work presented here suggests that APA microencapsulation can be used as an effective oral delivery method for L. fermentum NCIMB 5221, a FAE-active probiotic strain.

Keywords: Lactobacillus fermentum; artificial cells; ferulic acid esterase; microcapsules

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