Probiotics!

[Pat Thielen]

Greetings everyone! It's been awhile since I last posted but I must admit its been a tad busy of late. Anyway, here are a few photos I took of bacteria from a 42 billion count probiotic pill. I was very surprised to discover that the bacteria are contained in microscopic capsules that seem to slowly dissolve over time; I suspect this is to allow a much slower release of the beneficial bacteria that if you were to just eat a capsule containing them. These were all taken using bright field-illumination. I tried dark field and phase contrast but those methods didn't work out so well. I thought these were rather interesting.

[zzffnn]

Pat,

For darkfield and phase to work well, you would have to first filter out those carrier particles with something like lady's tights.

[Pat Thielen]

Here is a video I took of the bacteria. I'm still learning how to properly edit and save video; the original is of much higher video quality but is far too large to upload. So, this is the compromise version. Eventually I hope to find a balance between video size and quality. There always seems to be a learning curve!

[gekko]

Very interesting. Your video is much more revealing at this magnification.

[apochronaut]

probably, the idea is to get the micro capsules past the acid barrier of the stomach into the duodenum and intestines, where they can prosper better.

[Pat Thielen]

probably, the idea is to get the micro capsules past the acid barrier of the stomach into the duodenum and intestines, where they can prosper better.

It does make sense -- I just had no idea they worked that way. I had assumed the capsule you ate would travel through the stomach to the intestines where it would open up and release the bacteria. The millions of micro-capsules I find to be very interesting, and I have to wonder how they make something like that. So, for me it was an interesting discovery and it only led to more questions. I think that's how its supposed to work.

[einman]

Back when I was involved in such processes we referred to it as "enrobing" . As Apo indicated it is an attempt to reduce the bacteria's exposure to stomach acid. Although more recent studies would indicate the bacteria can withstand much lower pH's for much longer periods of time than was originally believed.

[Pat Thielen]

Back when I was involved in such processes we referred to it as "enrobing" . As Apo indicated it is an attempt to reduce the bacteria's exposure to stomach acid. Although more recent studies would indicate the bacteria can withstand much lower pH's for much longer periods of time than was originally believed.

I think this is fascinating -- I wonder what the actual process is for micro-enrobing bacteria -- How do you get the little guys in the micro-capsules? Obviously there are people far more knowledgeable about this than I am, but for me it is a very interesting discovery (even though I really didn't discover anything).

[EYE C U]

so did you use water or spit?