The The Effect of Alginate, Chitosan, and Nano Chitin as Encapsulation Materials of L. casei Probiotic Bacteria

Alginate, nano chitin, and chitosan polymers can be used to protect the Lactobacillus casei from gastric conditions. The goal of this study was to determine the effect of alginate, nano chitin, and chitosan as encapsulation materials of L. casei on their survivability in simulated gastric fluid (SGF). The encapsulation process in this study was carried out by the extrusion method. The resulted beads were soaked in SGF (pH of 1.2 and 3) for 1 and 60 min at 37°C. In SGF pH 1.2 for 60 min, the survivability of L.casei in all variations of the experiment was 0% except those encapsulated from alginate (1%), nano chitin (0.2%), and chitosan (0.2) % of 75.35%. In SGF pH 3 for 60 min, the survivability of L.casei was 0% for beads unencapsulation and encapsulation made from alginate, while the highest survivability of L.casei was 81.22% obtained in various encapsulation experiments using alginate (1%), nano chitin (0.2%), and chitosan (0.2%). The addition of nano chitin or chitosan to L.casei encapsulation material can increase the survivability of L.casei, also showed that the combination of alginate, nano chitin, and chitosan in the encapsulated material significantly increased the survivability of L.casei at SGF pH 1.2 and 3.