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. 2024 Oct 14;16(10):1326.
doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics16101326.

Respiratory Delivery of Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG by Vibrating-Mesh and Jet Nebulisation

Alex Seungyeon Byun  1 , Luis Vitetta  1 , Hak-Kim Chan  1 , Philip Chi Lip Kwok  1
Affiliations

Respiratory Delivery of Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG by Vibrating-Mesh and Jet Nebulisation

Alex Seungyeon Byun et al. Pharmaceutics. .

Abstract

Background: The use of probiotic bacteria to improve lung health has been gaining interest. Although the oral delivery of probiotics and their effects are well documented, there is currently limited knowledge on the respiratory delivery of probiotics.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate whether nebulisation is suitable for delivering Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) into the lungs for the potential treatment of bacterial pulmonary infections.

Methods: It compared the dose output and aerosol performance of a vibrating-mesh nebuliser (VMN) and a jet nebuliser (JN) in nebulising LGG suspended in de Man Rogosa Sharpe (MRS) broth, phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), or normal saline (0.9% w/v sodium chloride in water).

Results: The VMN consistently produced a higher output than the JN for all liquid media, indicating that VMN was more efficient. The fine-particle fractions of both nebulisers were comparable for a given medium. The highest fine-particle fraction was achieved with LGG suspended in MRS broth for both nebulisers (20.5 ± 2.8% for VMN; 18.7 ± 3.4% for JN). This suggests that the aerosol performance of nebulised probiotics may depend on the medium in which the probiotic bacteria were suspended.

Conclusions: Therefore, this study demonstrated that the nebulisation efficiency of LGG depended on the nebuliser type and liquid medium of the probiotic suspension.

Keywords: Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG; aerosol; bacteria; droplet; inhalation; jet nebuliser; nebulisation; probiotics; vibrating-mesh nebuliser.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Probiotics™ Australia unconditionally donated the probiotic bacteria for the experiments. This company has no role or interest in the work. The authors have no relationship with Probiotics™ Australia.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Jet nebuliser setup for measuring dose output.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Stability of LGG in MRS broth, PBS or saline at room temperature over 24 h (n = 3, mean ± standard deviation).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Unit dose distribution of LGG suspensions after vibrating-mesh and jet nebulisation (n = 3, mean ± standard deviation).
Figure 4
Figure 4
The proportion of the nebulised probiotic dose collected in the output filter (n = 3, mean ± standard deviation).
Figure 5
Figure 5
The distribution of the recovered probiotic dose after nebulisation at 1, 2, and 4 min (n = 3, mean ± standard deviation).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Probiotic droplet size distributions measured by laser diffraction (n = 3, mean ± standard deviation).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Proportion of probiotic aerosol volume under 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10 mm (n = 3, mean ± standard deviation).
Figure 8
Figure 8
The distribution of nebulised probiotic aerosols in the Next-Generation Impactor (n = 3, mean ± standard deviation).
Figure 9
Figure 9
Fine-particle fraction and fine-particle dose of nebulised probiotic aerosols (n = 3, mean ± standard deviation).
Figure 10
Figure 10
Nanolive images of LGG before and after nebulisation. (A) MRS broth before nebulisation; (B) PBS before nebulisation; (C) saline before nebulisation; (D) MRS broth after VM nebulisation; (E) PBS after VM nebulisation; (F) saline after VM nebulisation; (G) MRS broth after jet nebulisation; (H) PBS after jet nebulisation; (I) saline after jet nebulisation.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Distribution of LGG chain and individual bacterium lengths before and after nebulisation. The red lines indicate the median of the probiotic chain lengths and bacterium sizes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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