| Summary: | <i>Akkermansia muciniphila</i> is regarded as a promising next-generation probiotic or live biotherapeutic candidate. Effective delivery strategies must be developed to ensure high enough viability of the probiotic strain throughout its industrial formulation, distribution chain, shelf-life, and, ultimately, the host’s gastrointestinal tract, where it should exert its beneficial effect(s). Among the possible methodologies, spray-drying is considered industrially attractive regarding its costs, efficiency, and scalability, with the due parameter customization. In this study, spray-drying was explored as a one-step process to encapsulate <i>A. muciniphila</i> DSM 22959, testing the drying settings and three different dairy-based matrices. Microcapsule morphology and size was assessed, and viability throughout storage at 4 or 22 °C and simulated gastrointestinal passage was determined. <i>Akkermansia muciniphila</i> microencapsulation by spray-drying, using 10% skim milk and inlet/outlet temperatures of 150/65 °C, is effective in terms of viability stabilization, both during prolonged aerobic storage and exposure to simulated gastrointestinal passage. <i>Akkermansia muciniphila</i> viability was maintained at around 10<sup>7</sup> CFU/g up to 28 days at 4 °C under aerobic conditions with viability losses inferior to 1 log reduction. This methodology provides the necessary conditions to efficiently deliver the recommended dose of live <i>A. muciniphila</i> in the human gut as a live biotherapeutic product.
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