title: Protection of probiotic bacteria in a synbiotic matrix following aerobic storage at 4 °C.
abstract: The survival of single strains of Bifidobacterium breve, Bifidobacterium longum, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Lactobacillus reuteri was investigated in synbiotics that included 10 mg/ml of fructo-oligosaccharides, inulin and pectic-oligosaccharides in an alginate matrix under refrigerated (4 °C) aerobic storage conditions. When the matrices were cross-linked with calcium (45 mM), 102-103 cfu/ml of L. acidophilus and L. reuteri, and 0-103 cfu/ml of B. breve and B. longum survived refrigerated aerobic storage for 28 days. Following refrigerated storage, acetic (3-9 mM), butyric (0-2 mM), propionic (5-16 mM) and lactic acids (1-48 mM) were produced during the growth of probiotics in BHI broth at 37 °C, suggesting their metabolic activity after storage was stressed. When calcium cross-linking was not used in synbiotics, the matrix remained more gel-like after inoculation when compared to the calcium cross-linked matrix. At least 107 cfu/ml of probiotic bacteria survived after 21 days of storage within these gel-like alginate matrices. Significantly higher levels of B. breve, L. acidophilus and L. reuteri were obtained from the synbiotic matrices supplemented with fructo-oligosaccharides, inulin and pectic-oligosaccharides compared to alginate alone. B. longum survival was the same (~7 logs) in all gel-like synbiotic matrices. These results show that synbiotics protected probiotic bacteria and extended their shelf-life under refrigerated aerobic conditions. Synbiotics represent a viable delivery vehicle for health-promoting bacteria.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 65 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chaluvadi
authors.forename: A T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Hotchkiss
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Call
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Luchansky
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Ls
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Yam
mesh_terms: D000332:Aerobiosis; D001644:Bifidobacterium / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000254:growth & development; D003080:Cold Temperature; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D050296:Microbial Viability; D019936:Probiotics / Q000737:chemistry*; D058616:Synbiotics / Q000032:analysis*