Influence of multiple compression phases during tableting of spray dried Saccharomyces cerevisiae on microbial survival and physical–mechanical tablet properties

The viability of probiotic microorganisms is essential for their health-promoting effects and must be preserved in the best possible way during the production of the final dosage form, such as tablets. This applies to both drying and tableting. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is spray-dried with suitable protective additives, which were identified in a previous study in which also the influence of the formulation during tableting was investigated. One aspect that has not yet been addressed is the effect of multiple compression, as it is typical with pre- and main compression when using rotary tablet presses. To investigate this, tablets are compressed up to five times. It is shown that when tablet strength and survival are considered together, the application of a pre- and main pressure does not have a significant effect. This facilitates the transferability of findings of compaction studies with a single compression phase. In addition, the data allow to consolidate the mechanism of inactivation of microorganisms during tableting found in previous studies by the same authors. This is based on the porosity reduction, whereby it is shown in the present study that it is irrelevant how this reduction is achieved (change in compression stress or the number of compression cycles).