Thakur Deepika, Jain Ashay, Ghoshal Gargi, Shivhare U S, Katare O P
Dr. S. S. Bhatnagar University Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 160014, India.
University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India.
AAPS PharmSciTech. 2017 Jul;18(5):1447-1459. doi: 10.1208/s12249-017-0806-1. Epub 2017 May 26.
β-Carotene, abundant majorly in carrot, pink guava yams, spinach, kale, sweet potato, and palm oil, is an important nutrient for human health due to its scavenging action upon reactive free radicals wherever produced in the body. Inclusion of liposoluble β-carotene in foods and food ingredients is a challenging aspect due to its labile nature and low absorption from natural sources. This fact has led to the application of encapsulation of β-carotene to improve stability and bioavailability. The present work was aimed to fabricate microcapsules (MCs) of β-carotene oily dispersion using the complex coacervation technique with casein (CA) and guar gum (GG) blend. The ratio of CA:GG was found to be 1:0.5 (w/v) when optimized on the basis of zeta potential-yield stress phenomenon. These possessed a higher percentage yield (71.34 ± 0.55%), lower particle size (176.47 ± 4.65 μm), higher encapsulation efficiency (65.95 ± 5.33%), and in general, a uniform surface morphology was observed with particles showing optimized release behavior. Prepared MCs manifested effective and controlled release (up to 98%) following zero-order kinetics which was adequately explained by the Korseymer-Peppas model. The stability of the freeze-dried MCs was established in simulated gastrointestinal fluids (SGF, SIF) for 8 h. Antioxidant activity of the MCs was studied and revealed the retention of the functional architecture of β-carotene in freeze-dried MCs. Minimal photolytic degradation upon encapsulation of β-carotene addressed the challenge regarding photo-stability of β-carotene as confirmed via mass spectroscopy.
β-胡萝卜素主要大量存在于胡萝卜、粉红番石榴、山药、菠菜、羽衣甘蓝、红薯和棕榈油中，由于其对体内任何部位产生的活性自由基具有清除作用，因此是对人体健康重要的营养素。由于脂溶性β-胡萝卜素性质不稳定且从天然来源的吸收率低，将其纳入食品和食品成分是一个具有挑战性的方面。这一事实导致了β-胡萝卜素包封技术的应用，以提高其稳定性和生物利用度。本研究旨在采用酪蛋白（CA）和瓜尔豆胶（GG）共混的复凝聚技术制备β-胡萝卜素油分散体微胶囊（MCs）。基于ζ电位-屈服应力现象进行优化时，发现CA:GG的比例为1:0.5（w/v）。这些微胶囊具有较高的产率（71.34±0.55%）、较低的粒径（176.47±4.65μm）、较高的包封效率（65.95±5.33%），总体而言，观察到表面形态均匀，颗粒呈现出优化的释放行为。制备的微胶囊在零级动力学下表现出有效且可控的释放（高达98%），Korsmeyer-Peppas模型对此进行了充分解释。冻干微胶囊在模拟胃肠液（SGF、SIF）中8小时内稳定性良好。对微胶囊的抗氧化活性进行了研究，结果表明β-胡萝卜素在冻干微胶囊中保留了其功能结构。通过质谱证实，β-胡萝卜素包封后光解降解最小，解决了β-胡萝卜素光稳定性方面的挑战。
