Encapsulation and release studies of strawberry polyphenols in biodegradable chitosan nanoformulation

Polyphenols (negative groups) of strawberry extract interacts with positively protonated amino groups of chitosan which helps in maximum encapsulation. This approach can improve the bioavailability and sustained release of phytochemicals having lower bioavailability. The optimum mass ratio of chitosan-tripolyphosphate and polyphenols (PPs) loading was investigated to be 3:1 and 0.5mg/ml of strawberry extract, respectively. Prepared nanoformulation were characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The formed particles size ranged between 300 and 600nm and polydispersity index (PDI) of≈0.5. The optimized formulation showed encapsulation efficiency of 58.09% at 36.47% of polyphenols loading. Initial burst and continuous release of PPs was observed at pH 7.4 of in vitro release studies. PPs release profile at this pH was found to be non-Fickian analomous diffusion and the release was followed first order kinetics. And at pH 1.4, diffusion-controlled Fickian release of PPs was observed.