Abstract
The human gut microbiome is essential for maintaining health, as it substantially impacts immune regulation and overall balance within the body. Accordingly, disruptions in this microbial community are associated with various diseases. Probiotics offer a promising solution, but their effectiveness is often hampered by challenges related to gastrointestinal delivery. To overcome the issue of probiotic survival in the gastrointestinal system, researchers have explored various encapsulation techniques. However, traditional coarse encapsulation techniques lack precision and effective targeting, limiting the delivery of viable organisms to the colon. Current methods face challenges such as inadequate particle size control, leakage, and poor survival in complex gastrointestinal environments. This research introduces a novel approach for encapsulating individual bacteria to create single-bacterium microgels, utilizing gas-shearing technology to enhance the survival and targeting capabilities of probiotics. This approach also demonstrates the capability to coat multiple microbial species, including bacteria and fungi, while ensuring good biocompatibility and mechanical support. Focusing on Escherichia coli Nissle 1917, we demonstrate that this method significantly improves therapeutic efficacy in treating inflammatory bowel disease compared to unencapsulated strains. Our results suggest that gas-shearing encapsulation represents a promising strategy for the fabrication of single-bacterium microgels, facilitating the development of effective probiotic therapies with potential applications in both biomedical and nutraceutical fields.