Study of prebiotic potential of Terminalia chebula and development of nasal synbiotic formulation.

The healthy population, including children and adults, naturally carries Lactobacilli in their nasal microflora, which probiotics can maintain. The potential benefits of probiotics and prebiotics to address nasal infections have not been thoroughly investigated. Hence, a novel reconstitutable synbiotic nasal spray dried powder (NSDP) has been proposed to protect and preserve the nasal microbiome. Several batches of NSDP were prepared by spray drying Terminalia chebula (T. chebula) with varying concentrations of carriers, including sorbitol, mannitol, and maltodextrin, to study the efficacy of the prebiotic potential of T. chebula. NSDP was evaluated for yield, LOD, micromeritic properties, size distribution by optical microscopy, laser diffraction, and surface topography by SEM. L. casei as a probiotic was added before spray drying to the optimized batch of NSDP. Probiotic-loaded NSDP was reconstituted and studied for pH, rheology, pump delivery, and viability enumeration before and after the spray drying and investigated for in-vitro efficacy by co-culture technique. Mannitol as a carrier showed parameters in a desirable range. The optimized mannitol batch yielded 37.3 %, with a moisture content of 4.6 ± 0.22 %, good flow properties, and an optimum particle size of 30.68± 4.1 µm. The pH of reconstituted optimized NSDP was about 6.2 to 6.3, with pump delivery 0.112 g/spray, and had shear thinning properties with significant results in viability and in-vitro efficacy by co-culture technique (P < 0.0001). The proposed NSDP formulation can be potentially used in restoring the nasal flora and can be further investigated for protective effects against nasal infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]