Efficacy of bigel in improving the viability of probiotic: experimental study

Abstract

Gel formulations of oleogel, hydrogel, and oleo-hydrogel (bigel) were evaluated as transdermal drug delivery systems, but recently various studies have proved that gel-based delivery systems are also able to improve the stability and bioavailability of many bioactive food ingredients. The aim of this study was to prepare different formulations of edible bigel and compare their effect on probiotic viability. This work was an experimental research design conducted in Food Technology Laboratory at B.B. Ambedkar University with technical assistance provided by CytoGene Research and Development in Lucknow, India. The experimental work was conducted from January to April 2021. The primary analysing technique was based on quantitative microbial analysis using two nutrient agar media, Reinforced Clostridial Agar RCA and De Man, Rogosa and Sharpe Agar MRS. To these agar medias, two probiotic bacteria was introduced, Clostridium butyricum and Lactic acid bacillus (Lactobacillus sporogenes) in two different phases, in the first phase (control), the probiotic was free from any type of gel while in the second phase, the probiotic was incorporated with bigel. When the number of colonies formed was compared in both phases, it was observed that the second phase had more colonies, and within the second phase, the best formulation that had maximum number of colonies was 7:3 OG:HG ratio. In RCA media, the results showed that, Clostridium butyricum count was raised from 472 to 624 colonies, on the other hand, In MRS media, the Lactic acid bacillus count was raised from 13 to 53 colonies. At the physical level, the most stable form of bigel with solid, jelly-like structure and viscoelastic nature was 7:3 OG:HG ratio, and all this work led to a conclusion that, 7:3 OG:HG ratio of bigel is physically and microbiologically ideal to be a potential substance used for coating and encapsulation of probiotic supplement.