The 5th Department (Internal Medicine I), Faculty of Medicine, "Victor Babes" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timisoara, Romania.
Neutron Spectroscopy Department, Institute for Solid State Physics and Optics, Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.
Int J Nanomedicine. 2018 Nov 6;13:7155-7166. doi: 10.2147/IJN.S181667. eCollection 2018.
Red chili peppers have been highly valued in gastronomy and traditional medicine since ancient times; it seems that it is not just an ingredient for food but also a good remedy for various medical conditions such as increased blood pressure and high levels of serum triglycerides and cholesterol, myocardial infarction, arthritis, and migraines. The objective of this study is the characterization of a new carrier used for encapsulated extract.
Chili pepper extract was obtained and was physically entrapped inside polyurethane microparticles in order to diminish the irritative potential of this extract. The particles were evaluated by Zetasizer measurements, small-angle neutron scattering and thermal analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; the encapsulation efficacy and the drug release profile were assessed by UV-Vis spectroscopy. Bioevaluations on mice skin were performed to predict the irritative potential of the samples.
Two different types of samples were compared: hollow polyurethane microparticles vs polyurethane particles containing the natural extract. The sizes of the particles were very similar, but the sample containing the extract presents three particle populations (the polydispersity index increases from 0.3 to 0.6 from one sample to another). The zeta-potential measurements and SEM images indicate a medium tendency to form clusters, while the UV-Vis study revealed an almost 70% encapsulation efficacy.
The results suggest that encapsulation of a chili pepper extract inside polyurethane microparticles leads to a non-irritative product with a prolonged release: ~30% of encapsulated extract is released within the first 8 days and a maximum 45% is reached in 2 weeks.
红辣椒自古以来在美食和传统医学中都受到高度重视；它似乎不仅是食物的一种成分，而且还是治疗高血压、高血清甘油三酯和胆固醇、心肌梗死、关节炎和偏头痛等多种疾病的良药。本研究的目的是对一种新的载体进行表征，该载体用于封装提取物。
获得辣椒提取物，并将其物理包埋在聚氨酯微球中，以降低该提取物的刺激性。通过 Zetasizer 测量、小角中子散射和热分析、扫描电子显微镜（SEM）和傅里叶变换红外光谱对颗粒进行了评估；通过紫外可见光谱评估了包封效率和药物释放曲线。对小鼠皮肤进行生物评估，以预测样品的刺激性。
比较了两种不同类型的样品：空心聚氨酯微球与含有天然提取物的聚氨酯颗粒。颗粒的大小非常相似，但含有提取物的样品呈现出三种颗粒群（多分散指数从一种样品到另一种样品从 0.3 增加到 0.6）。zeta 电位测量和 SEM 图像表明存在中等程度的团聚倾向，而紫外可见研究表明包封效率几乎达到 70%。
结果表明，将辣椒提取物包封在聚氨酯微球中会产生一种无刺激性的产品，具有延长的释放：约 30%的包封提取物在头 8 天内释放，在 2 周内达到最大值 45%。
