# Evaluation of Non-Encapsulated and Microencapsulated Lactic Acid Bacteria
## 3 Results
### Spray drying Technique Using Maltodextrin and Glucose and Cell Viability  
Spray drying was applied only for three strains (_L. salivarius_ IBNA 33, _L. salivarius_ IBNA 41, and _L. acidophilus_ IBNA 64), which registered significant resistance at low pH and bile salt concentrations before being submitted to the microencapsulated process as described in the Materials and Methods section. The powders that resulted in laboratory-scale drying were evaluated for cell viability. In order to improve the encapsulation process, dextrin and maltodextrin were used as polymers to increase the viability and maintain the  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline  & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Time (h)**} \\ \cline{2-3}
**Strains** & **0 h** & **1:30 h** & **3 h** \\ \hline _L. acidophilus_ IBNA 26 & 8.04 a & 0.00 a & 0.00 a \\ _L. acidophilus_ IBNA 64 & 7.42 b & 7.59 b & 7.55 b \\ _L. fermentum_ IBNA 37 & 7.59 b & 0.00 a & 0.00 a \\ _L. salivarius_ IBNA 29 & 9.98 c & 9.04 c & 9.07 c \\ _L. salivarius_ IBNA 33 & 8.07 a & 9.85 d & 9.82 d \\ _L. salivarius_ IBNA 41 & 9.80 cd & 9.79 d & 8.79 e \\ \hline SEM & 0.20 & 1.05 & 1.04 \\ \hline \(p\) value & \textless{}0.001 & \textless{}0.0001 & \textless{}0.0001 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} Results are expressed as means of three independent experiments each with duplicate. Means represent viable count (Log\({}_{\textless{}0}\) CFU mL\({}^{-1}\)). a–e Means with different superscripts in a separately column differ significantly (_p_ \textless{}0.05\).  
\end{table}
Table 4: Viability of _Lactobacillus_ isolates during 3 h of incubation in 0.3% bile salt.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & \\ \hline
**Strains** & **AMX** & **GN** & **K** & **MY** & **TE** & **P** & **VA** & **CT** & **DA** & E & **AK** & **C** & **OT** & **ENR** & **S** & **TIL** \\ \hline
1 & I & R & R & R & R & S & I & I & R & I & R & R & S & R & R & I \\
2 & I & R & R & R & S & I & I & R & I & R & I & S & R & R & I \\
3 & S & R & R & R & S & S & I & R & I & I & R & S & S & R & R & R \\
4 & R & R & S & R & I & S & I & R & I & I & S & I & R & R & R & R \\
5 & R & R & S & R & I & S & I & R & I & I & S & I & R & R & R & R \\
6 & R & R & S & R & I & S & I & R & I & I & S & I & R & R & R & R \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 5: Antibiotic susceptibility profile of LAB isolates.  
stability of the probiotic cells during spray-drying. As can be observed, the spray drying conditions can affect _Lactobacillus_ viability (Figure 1).  
The thermal treatment of spray-drying (66 \({}^{\circ}\)C, 60 min) decreased the bacterial survival rate for _L. acidophilus_ IBNA 64 (\(p<0.0001\)), while _L. salivarius_ (IBNA 33, around 80% and IBNA 41, around 78%) strains were more resistant.  
In the case of _L. acidophilus_ IBNA 64, known as a thermo-sensitive probiotic strain, the viability was significantly different compared with the liquid form, where the survival was around 5% (remaining viable \(\sim\)2 \(\times\) 10\({}^{4}\) CFU g\({}^{-1}\)). Instead, the impact of the spray drying on _L. salivarius_ powders generated a 2 Log ten-fold lowest viability as follows: IBNA 33 resisted around 80% (remaining viable \(\sim\)4 \(\times\) 10\({}^{8}\) CFU g\({}^{-1}\)), with 78% for IBNA 41 (remaining viable \(\sim\)1.6 \(\times\) 10\({}^{8}\) CFU g\({}^{-1}\)) vs. bacterial non-encapsulated culture.  
Notably, no differences (\(p>0.05\)) in the survival of cells were registered for _L. salivarius_ strains, even if they were isolated from different areas of the poultry tract (IBNA 33 from cecum, respectively IBNA 41 from ileum) after exposure to high temperature of spray drying method.