Essential Oils-Loaded Polymer Particles: Preparation, Characterization and Antimicrobial Property

In the last few years, essential oils (EOs) derived from plants have aroused great interest due to their well-known antimicrobial activity. Unfortunately, they present several limitations in their use, such as photosensitivity, temperature sensitivity, high volatility, and poor water solubility. The encapsulation technique represents a good solution to these problems and ensures protection of the functional properties of essential oils. In this work, bergamot essential oil (BEO) and sweet orange essential oil (OEO) loaded-Eudragit^® RS 100 (EuRS100) nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared by using the nanoprecipitation technique. We obtained nanoparticles characterized by a mean diameter of 57 to 208 nm and a positive surface charge (39 to 74 mV). The antibacterial activity of the obtained systems against Escherichia coli was in vitro investigated. We demonstrated that both orange and bergamot essential oils were successfully encapsulated and our nanoparticles have good antibacterial activity. Finally, in order to evaluate the potential applicability of OEONps to prolong fresh orange juice shelf-life, survival of E. coli during a storage period of one week at 25 °C was investigated: Orange essential oil-loaded nanoparticles (OEONPs) have been able to prolong the orange juice shelf life.