Lauric acid surface modification enhances interfacial properties of natural yeast particles for stabilizing pickering...

The cell walls of inactivated probiotics exhibit amphiphilicity at oil-water interfaces, demonstrating potential as Pickering stabilizers. This study modified inactivated yeast cell (YC) walls with lauric acid (LA) to optimize the interfacial adsorption of whole-cell particles for novel bio-based stabilizers. Interfacial analysis revealed that YC-LA particles (mass ratio 100:5), driven by pH adjustment (from 11.0 to 7.0), reduced interfacial tension from 12.54 to 6.71 mN/m within 3600 s, outperforming YC due to LA-enhanced adsorption via hydrophobic/hydrogen-bonding interaction. YC-LA forms dense interfacial films at the oil-water interfaces, restricting emulsion droplets to <20 μm through steric hindrance. This interfacial network endowed YC-LA Pickering emulsions with a low creaming index after 35-day storage at 4 °C, and maintained structural integrity under high temperatures (from 65 to 100 °C) and wide pH (from 2.0 to 11.0) without demulsification. This work provides a theoretical basis for designing probiotic-based O/W Pickering delivery systems for functional foods.