wattsense
thermal analysis matters
Verification of viable bacteria
The calorimeter measures the power produced by a probiotic supplement as the bacteria grow. We add a sample of your product to a growth medium and follow the power signal as the bacteria multiply.
The total power is directly proportional to the number of viable bacteria, the shape is related to the species and the time shows how fast your bacteria respond. No need to wait 48h or more as there is in plate-counting!
Comparing formulations
The figure on the left shows probiotic growth curves for two flavours of the same product line - calorimetric measurement shows how the growth of bacteria progresses in real time, and is influenced by the ingredients. Using this approach, ingredients can be altered to give product ranges with identical growth characteristics.
Again, plate counting would not reveal these subtle differences
Gastric acid tolerance
Probiotic supplements cannot exert effects in-vivo if they cannot survive exposure to the low pH of gastric acid. We offer testing to show how your product protects bacteria from gastric acid, allowing you to optimise or verify delivery of live bacteria to the gut.
The figure shows the growth of probiotic bacteria in a commercial product (control) and the effect of exposing the product to gastric acid for up to 30 mins. The growth curve moves to the right with increasing acid exposure, indicating some loss of viable bacteria.
These data also show the result of exposing a product to gastric acid. Here, as above, a small loss in viable bacteria is seen with acid exposure up to 15 min. But 30 mins exposure causes a dramatic loss in bacterial viability.
Batch-release testing
When manufacturing probiotic supplements it is critical to ensure (a) the product contains the right probiotic species at the right concentration and (b) there are no contaminating organisms. Calorimetry offers a cutting-edge solution to batch-release testing. The solid line shows the average growth curve obtained for 16 batches of a commercial, multi-strain product. The shaded area shows the standard deviation. When new batches are made, the growth curve is measured. If it falls within the shaded envelope the product is with specification. If is falls outside it fails.