Potential of lactic acid bacteria derived polysaccharides for the delivery and controlled release of oral probiotics

Food and oral pharmaceutical products containing probiotics have tremendous health benefits and have recently attracted a great amount of attention. However, the delivery and controlled release of core probiotics to the target site is a complicated process that must be considered when constructing carrier systems. The encapsulation of probiotics on the basis of polysaccharides is frequently applied to overcome this problem and has acquired remarkable results. Despite this, intrinsic disadvantages, including porosity and indigestibility, exist in most reported plant- and animal-derived polysaccharides during this process. Thus, the development of effective alternatives of polysaccharides is urgently required. The polysaccharides produced by Lactobacillus are assumed to be more suitable for the efficient delivery and controlled release of probiotics when compared with plant- and animal-derived polysaccharides. However, in-depth research relating to such polysaccharides is currently limited. In this review, we extensively analyze the structure and characteristics of the polysaccharides derived from Lactobacillus, and compare them with other additional successfully applied polysaccharides for the encapsulation of probiotics. We then, discuss the application of Lactobacillus polysaccharides for encapsulated probiotics, and in particular, the delivery and controlled release of oral probiotics.