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Updated: Oct 12, 2025
Author Spotlight: Advancing Therapeutics with Biocompatible Sodium Alginate Hydrogel Microspheres
Published on: June 7, 2024
Development, Physical-Chemical Characterization, and Molecular Docking Simulations of Ursolic Acid-Sodium Alginate
Ting Li1, Xindi Zhang2, Hongyue Wang2
1School of Traditional Chinese Materia Medica, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, 103 Wenhua Road, Shenyang 110016, China.
Abstract:
The aim of this study was to fabricate ursolic acid (UA)-sodium alginate (SA) complexes to improve the dissolution rate and antioxidant abilities. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by the DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-trinitrophenylhydrazine) assay and the pyrogallol auto-oxidation method. For the optimal composition ratio of UA:SA (1:5, w/w), the cumulative release of UA was about 101.22 ± 1.50% for 180 min. Powder X-ray diffractometry (PXRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses confirmed that the crystallinity of UA was significantly reduced by forming complexes with SA. By Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and molecular docking simulations, it was observed that the hydroxyl group in UA formed hydrogen bonding with the carbonyl group in SA. The DPPH scavenger activities of the complexes were also increased compared with free UA. The results indicated that SA could serve as a promising carrier for lipophilic functional food ingredients due to improved solubility and antioxidant activity.
