Co-Encapsulation Efficiency of Silk Sericin-Alginate-Prebiotics and the Effectiveness of Silk Sericin Coating Layer on the Survival of Probiotic Lactobacillus Casei

The use of silk sericin protein as a biomaterial to co-encapsulate probiotic Lactobacillus casei TISTR 1463 with alginate and various prebiotics was determined. In addition, 0.2% silk sericin was also evaluated as a coating material to improve the viability of probiotic cells. Silk sericin coating has the potential to enhance probiotic survival in freeze-dried microcapsules. Under refrigerated storage condition of 4°C for 120 days, alginate-silk sericin-maltitol with silk sericin coating (SM-C) provided the best performance with the lowest inactivation rate (k) and the highest δ parameter (the first decimal reduction time) applied by the log-linear and Weibull models, respectively. However, the stability was relatively low at the temperature of 30°C. Co-encapsulation of alginate-silk sericin-prebiotic and coated with silk sericin exerted a protective impact on the strain survival when exposed to high temperatures and transited through the digestive system.