Abstract
Antibiotic-resistant pathogenic bacteria and the oxidative stress related to their infections are dangerous health problems. Finding new safe, effective antibacterial and antioxidant agents is an urgent global need. Probiotics are a strong candidate for possible antibacterial and antioxidant agents. The delivery of these probiotics without any effect on gastrointestinal digestion is the most important point for their application. The encapsulation of the probiotics on nanoparticles or other supports is a well-known method for the safe delivery of the probiotics. Little information is known about the effect of the probiotic encapsulation on its antibacterial and antioxidant activity. The present study tried to investigate the effect of probiotic encapsulation on nano-chitosan on its antioxidant activity and antibacterial activity against some pathogenic bacteria. We encapsulated some known probiotic species on nano-chitosan and investigated the antibacterial activity of the nano-probiotics and free probiotics against gastrointestinal pathogenic bacteria. The antioxidant characters of the free and encapsulated probiotics were investigated in terms of DPPH radicle scavenging activity, ferric ion chelating activity, hydroxyl radicle scavenging activity, superoxide anion radicle scavenging activity, and anti-lipid peroxidation activity. Results showed the superiority of the encapsulated probiotics as antibacterial and antioxidant agents over the free ones. The encapsulation improved the antibacterial activity of Sporolactobacillus laevolacticus against Bacteroides fragilis by 134% compared to the free one. Also, significantly, the encapsulation increased the hydroxyl radicle scavenging activity of Enterococcus faecium by about 180% compared to the free one. Nano-chitosan encapsulation synergistically increased the antioxidant and antibacterial activity of the studied probiotics. This can be promising for controlling pathogenic bacteria. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12088-023-01140-2.