Effect of Tween 80 and Pluronic 127 on the stabilization of zein nanocarriers for the delivery of piperine.

In the current research work, zein-based polymeric nanocarriers were developed for the delivery of piperine, where the effect of non-ionic surfactants (Tween 80 and Pluronic F-127) on the stability and in vitro drug release characteristics were studied. Physiochemical characterization studies showed that the particle size of blank and drug-loaded surfactant stabilized zein nanoparticles were <200 nm and particles were spherical in shape. FTIR studies confirmed the successful incorporation of piperine within the zein nanoparticle without any alteration in primary structure of zein. The circular dichroism spectroscopy suggested that α-helix content of zein was reduced following the incorporation of drug within nanoparticles. The solubility of piperine was enhanced significantly in the gastrointestinal tract, and higher sustained release was observed for tween 80-stablized zein nanoparticles. The formulations were stable towards thermal treatment up to 90 °C, showed superior resistance towards aggregation even at ionic strength >50 mM NaCl, and did not show any aggregation even at the isoelectric pH. Tween 80-stablized zein nanoparticles showed good redispersibility index with the cryoprotectant mannose (5 % w/v) after lyophilization. The current research would contribute to the advancement of zein nanoparticles for the delivery of nutraceutical agents, which may be utilized in the food supplements or therapeutic agents to improve the human health.