Microencapsulation of probiotics using crosslinked lotus seed starch and alginate: protection and structural...

Probiotics are vulnerable to simulated gastrointestinal environments, necessitating effective encapsulation carriers. This study prepared microcapsules with low/medium/high-crosslinked lotus seed crosslinked resistant starch (LS-2/6/12CS) and sodium alginate (SA), evaluating their protection on Lactiplantibacillus plantarum ACCC 11095 and structural changes. Results indicated that the encapsulation rate increased with higher LSCS crosslinking degree. During digestion, the characteristic starch peak of LSCS weakens and the SA peak essentially disappears, while LSCS crystal structure remains unchanged, indicating the interaction between both LSCS and SA still existed. The protective effect of microcapsules was significantly better than that of the unencapsulated bacteria. The probiotics encapsulated in LC6/12-SA released over 10⁶ CFU/g of viable bacteria after simulated gastrointestinal digestion, suggesting that could exert a probiotic effect in the intestinal tract. Therefore, LS-6/12CS-SA can be used as an effective oral probiotic carrier to protect the smooth arrival of probiotics in the gut and play a probiotic role.