GRANULES OF UNISTRAIN LACTOBACILLUS AS NUTRACEUTICAL ANTIOXIDANT AGENT

The present study was conducted with the aim to prepare probiotics Lactobacillus acidophilus (L. acidophilus) granules which are stable at room temperature. Lactobacillus acidophilus 2285 probiotics was obtained from the N.C.I.M (National Collection of Industrial Microorganism), Pune. The formation of the semi-solid mass occurred after the further incubation at 34 °C from range (33 °C to 37 °C) in an incubator kept for the less than 24 hour time duration. This mass was homogenized and converted into granule formulation.  The viability of the granule formulation was achieved with a maximum viable cell count after 24 hours of incubation in de Man, Rogosa, and Sharpe (M.R.S) agar media. Spray dried and tray dried powder of the probiotics is used for granulation, these drying methods served as a cheap alternative to the expensive freeze-drying procedure. The selected strain of L. acidophilus NCIM 2285 assessed for antioxidant activity. The antioxidant activity of L. acidophilus was demonstrated by in-vitro test using 2, 2–diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl free radical scavenging assay. The results showed that intact cells and cell-free extract of two formulations exhibited obviously higher antioxidative activity in scavenging DPPH radical than standard L. rhamnose GG, which was shown to have an antioxidative activity used as a positive control.