Physicochemical Differences in Dehydrated Saccharomyces Boulardii Yeast as a Function of the Dehydration Process

Measurements of the masses of incorporated water and of the heats of hydration have been performed at 310 K, under air atmosphere saturated with water vapour, on three differently dehydrated samples of the Saccharomyces boulardii yeast in order to evaluate differences in physicochemical properties related to the following dehydration processes: cryodesiccation (or lyophilization) and thermodesiccation (spray drying and in-fluidized-bed heating).Thermogravimetric (TG) experiments have shown that the lyophilized yeast contains less residual water than heat-treated yeasts and that it incorporates more water and more rapidly. Isothermal water sorption of a spherical yeast cell has been represented by a two-parameter equation able to take account of a maximum of the hydration rate when this is taken as a function of time. On the other hand, isothermal DSC experiments have shown that hydration-heat values are higher for the heat-treated yeasts than for the lyophilized one. The TG and DSC results have been shown to be consistent with the idea that the physicochemical properties of a dehydrated yeast are related to cell-wall behaviour during desiccation.This revised version was published online in November 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.