Development of interpenetrating network hydrogels: Enhancing the release and bioaccessibility of green tea...

Green Tea polyphenols (GTP) are important bioactive compounds with excellent physiological regulation functions. However, they are easily destroyed by the gastric environment during digestion. In this work, a sodium alginate (SA)-gellan gum (GG) interpenetrating network (IPN) hydrogel was synthesized to protect and delivery GTP. The ratio of SA/GG significantly affects the network structure of IPN hydrogels and the performance of delivering GTP. The hydrogel formed by interpenetrating 20 % GG with 80 % SA as the main network had the highest water uptake (55 g/g), holding capacity (950 mg/g), and freeze-thaw stability, with springiness reaching 0.933 and hardness reaching 1300 g, which due to the filling effect and non-covalent interaction. Rheological tests showed that the crosslink density of IPN hydrogel in SA-dominated network was improved by the addition of GG to make it better bound to GTP, and the higher water uptake meant that the system could absorb more GTP-containing solution. This IPN hydrogel maintained 917.3 mg/g encapsulation efficiency at the highest loading capacity (1080 mg/g) in tests as delivery system. In in vitro digestion simulations, owing to the pH responsiveness, the IPN hydrogel reduced the loss of GTP in gastric fluid, achieving a bioaccessibility of 71.6 % in the intestinal tract.