Green construction and digestive properties of Fe (II) and quercetin double-loaded delivery system by wampee...

This study was aimed to investigate green synthesis of wampee polysaccharide-Fe (II), called PQ-Fe (II), and its potential to load quercetin. Results showed that molecular weight of PQ-Fe (II) was 2.48 × 10⁶ Da and it was composed of mannose, rhamnose, glucuronic acid, glucose, galactose with Fe (II) content being 84 %. Structural characterization proved the formation of FeO bonds and its average particle size was 68.1 nm, zeta potential being -30.1 mV. Moreover, Fe (II) and quercetin double-loaded delivery system PQ-Fe(II)-QR was successfully constructed and applied in gummy candies, which achieved 84.37 % loading efficiency of quercetin with excellent stability. When PQ-Fe(II)-QR concentration was 1 mg/mL, the scavenging rate of hydroxyl radical and DPPH radical were 51.7 % and 94.3 % respectively, and its inhibition rate on α-glucosidase reached 93.2 %. Moreover, PQ-Fe(II)-QR had high bioavailability during simulated digestion in vitro. These results highlighted that PQ-Fe(II)-QR had great prospect in iron supplement and nutrient delivery.