Incorporation of probiotics with pressure-sensitive pectin-fructooligosaccharide hydrogel for potential intestinal...

Probiotics and prebiotics serve as vital tools in managing gut microecology and enhancing immune responses. However, the effectiveness of non-encapsulated probiotics often diminishes during processing, storage, and transport to the gastrointestinal tract, especially at elevated temperatures. To address this challenge, a novel loading strategy for Lactobacillus reuteri DPC16 (L. reuteri) is proposed in this work, using pressure-sensitive high-methoxy pectin (HMP)/fructooligosaccharides (FOS) hydrogel. The HMP/FOS hydrogel melted at 600 MPa to form a sol. The resulting sol was mixed with L. reuteri immediately at ambient conditions, which underwent a sol-to-gel transition subsequently to form a composite hydrogel with a continuous porous structure. The resulting HMP/FOS@L. reuteri hydrogel achieved a loading concentration of viable bacteria at 10⁹ CFU/mL. In vitro assessments reveal that the hydrogel demonstrates good biocompatibility and targeted release of probiotics within the intestine. Furthermore, the hydrogel substantially boosted the short-chain fatty acids levels and increased the amounts of acetic and isovaleric acids, respectively. This work underscores the unique advantages of employing a pressure-sensitive HMP/FOS hydrogel for loading and targeted delivery of probiotics and prebiotics to improve intestinal health.