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Microfluidics-based production of chitosan-gellan nanocomplexes encapsulating caffeine
Larissa Ribas Fonseca1, Tatiana Porto Santos1, Aline Czaikoski1
1Department of Food Engineering and Technology, School of Food Engineering, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), 13083-862 Campinas, SP, Brazil.
Food Research International (Ottawa, Ont.)
|January 4, 2022
Summary
Microfluidics technology offers superior control for creating polysaccharide electrostatic complexes, yielding smaller, more uniform particles for drug delivery. This method enhances encapsulation efficiency compared to traditional bulk processes.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Chemical Engineering
- Biotechnology
Background:
- Polysaccharide electrostatic complexes are valuable in medical, pharmaceutical, and food industries.
- Microfluidics offers precise control over particle formation due to its laminar flow regime and diffusion-dominated transport.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare bulk versus microfluidic methods for producing gellan-chitosan electrostatic complexes.
- To evaluate the impact of hydrolyzed chitosan on complex characteristics.
- To assess caffeine encapsulation efficiency using different production methods.
Main Methods:
- Production of electrostatic complexes using gellan with either chitosan or hydrolyzed chitosan via bulk and microfluidic methods.
- Characterization of complexes using zeta potential and particle size distribution analysis.
- Encapsulation efficiency of caffeine was determined.
Main Results:
- Microfluidics produced complexes with significantly lower polydispersity index (PDI ~0.1) and mean size (~200 nm) compared to bulk methods (PDI ~0.3, mean size ~400 nm).
- Hydrolyzed chitosan resulted in even smaller complexes with lower PDI due to its lower molecular weight and higher solubility.
- Highest caffeine encapsulation efficiency (70%) was achieved using microfluidics with longer residence times.
Conclusions:
- Microfluidics is an effective strategy for producing polysaccharide electrostatic complexes with enhanced properties.
- The technique shows high potential for developing vehicles for bioactive compounds.
- Optimized microfluidic device geometry and hydrolyzed chitosan can further improve complex characteristics and encapsulation.
