Development and Characterization of Pectin-Based Colon Targeted Pellets Containing Lactobacillus Plantarum FNCC-0461

Lactobacillus plantarum FNCC-0461 is a lactic acid bacteria isolated from "dadih" a traditional Indonesian food that has potential as a probiotic. Probiotics can show health benefits if they can maintain cell viability of at least 7 log CFU in the distal ileum and colon. However, most probiotics are not resistant to the extreme conditions of the gastrointestinal tract. Probiotic encapsulation in the form of pectin-based colon targeted pellets is a promising delivery system to overcome probiotic viability problems due to the gastrointestinal tract extreme conditions and can assist release to specific target site in colon. Pellets was produced by extrusion-spheronization method using microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), lactose and pectin. Optimization of spheronization process was carried out by varying the spheronization speed and time while the optimization of pellets formula was carried out by varying the concentration of total pectin and the type of coating polymer (cellulose acetate phthalate (CAP) or shellac). The morphology, particle size, moisture content, micromeritic properties, process yield and viability of pellets were evaluated. Release of probiotics on coated and uncoated pellets were examined at pH 1.2, 6.8 and 7.4 under simulated colon fluid for 24 hours. The formula containing MCC, lactose and pectin (5:4:1) with spheronization speed at 1500 rpm for 15 minutes showed the best pellets characteristic and cell viability. The pellets obtained were spherical, with particle size distribution of 913.57±8.28 μm, process yield of 88.71±1.04 % and viability of 7.50 x 107 cfu/g. Pellets coated with CAP showed the highest cell release in simulated colon fluid of 1.38 x 107 CFU/g at 24 hours. This research proved that CAP coated pellet formulation has promising potential for colon targeted delivery of L. plantarum as well as to protect the viability of probiotics for colon-targeted delivery.