Fabrication of β-carotene loaded glucuronoxylan-based nanostructures through electrohydrodynamic processing

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Biotechnology
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Bioactive compounds like beta-carotene (BC) require effective delivery systems for enhanced stability and bioavailability.
• Cydonia oblonga mucilage (COM) is a natural polymer with potential for encapsulating active ingredients.
• Electrohydrodynamic processing (EHP) offers a method for creating nanoscale materials.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the encapsulation of varying concentrations of beta-carotene (BC) within Cydonia oblonga mucilage (COM) using electrohydrodynamic processing (EHP).
• To characterize the resulting BC-loaded nanostructures and assess their physicochemical properties, morphology, and thermal stability.
• To determine the impact of BC concentration on the nanostructure formation and encapsulation efficiency.

Main Methods:

• Loading of different concentrations of BC (2.5-20% w/w) into COM.
• Processing of BC-loaded COM systems using electrohydrodynamic processing (EHP).
• Characterization techniques including droplet size analysis, rheology, surface tension, electrical conductivity, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), ATR-FTIR, X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).

Main Results:

• Increasing BC concentration increased viscosity and droplet size, while decreasing conductivity and surface tension of the colloidal systems.
• SEM revealed a morphological transition from nanoparticles to nanofibers with increasing BC content (2.5% to 20%).
• Nanoparticles showed more homogenous structure and higher BC encapsulation efficiency compared to nanofibers. The nanostructures exhibited amorphous nature and enhanced thermal stability.

Conclusions:

• COM is effective in encapsulating BC through EHP, yielding nanostructures with high thermochemical stability.
• The EHP method allows for controlled formation of nanoparticles and nanofibers by adjusting BC concentration.
• The developed BC-loaded nanostructures demonstrate potential as stable delivery systems for bioactive compounds.