Electrospun Gelatin Fiber Mats Mixed With C.carandas Extract and its Enhanced Stability and Bioactivity

Crude C. carandas fruits ethanol extract (CCE) constituents important bioactive compounds such as phenolics, flavonoids, and vitamin C. Its biological activities include anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, etc. The present work was carried out to study the optimal conditions for fabricating electrospun gelatin fiber mats (GFM) loaded with CCE (CCE-GFM) and to evaluate the release capacity and stability of these bioactive compounds loaded into GFM. The optimal conditions for electrospinning GFM were the electrospinning 30% (w/v) gelatin solution prepared in 25% (v/v) ethanol solution containing 30% (v/v) acetic acid, under the fixed electrostatic field strength of 20 kV and at a distance between noodle tip and ground of 15 cm. The feed rate of an electrospinning solution was 1.5 mL/h. The electrospun gelatin fibers were smooth and continuous under the optimized electrospinning conditions, with an average diameter of 235.69 ± 10.45 nm. Additionally, at the loading of 15% (w/w) CCE in GFM, CCE-GFM exhibited the highest DPPH radical scavenging activity with 88.22 ± 2.62% and the highest tyrosinase inhibitory activity with 38.17 ± 1.86%. Compared with free CCE, CCE-GFM was more thermally stable upon the heating and cooling cycle testing. CCE-GFM had the percent reductions in total contents of phenolics, flavonoids and vitamin C togethering with the percent reductions of DPPH scavenging and anti-tyrosinase activities slower than pure CCE had. Furthermore, the drug release efficiency from CCE-GFM of 15% (w/w) CCE loading that was tested using modified Franz diffusion cell in an acetate buffer solution of pH 5.5 was 30%. CCE-GFM has shown the potential to utilize a facial mask sheet containing CCE valuable in high antioxidant activity for cosmetic applications.