Rapidly and Directly Formed O/W Pickering Emulsion Gels Stabilized by Zein/Pectin Complex Nanoparticles: Encapsulation, Delivery, and In Vitro Gastrointestinal Digestion Behavior of Curcumin
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Pickering emulsion gels as versatile soft carriers for encapsulation and delivery of bioactives have shown great prospects for the extensive application in food, cosmetic and medical industry. In this work, zein-based Pickering emulsion gels (ZPEGs) emulsified and stabilized by zein/pectin complex nanoparticles (ZPNPs) were developed as delivery carriers of bioactives. The particle size, zeta-potential, and surface wettability of ZPNPs with different zein-to-pectin mass ratios were systematically evaluated. The optimized ZPNPs with neutral wettability and high surface charge were shown to be capable of rapidly forming and stabilizing O/W Pickering emulsion gels at lower ZPNPs content (1%) and high oil fractions of 0.4–0.6, exhibiting long-term storage stability (over 60 days), excellent viscoelasticity and plasticity (G’ > G"). The microscopy characterization, including SEM and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), revealed the intuitive network architecture and emulsion interface microstructure of ZPNPs and ZPEGs. As delivery carriers, the curcumin-loaded gels, prepared by encapsulating curcumin either in ZPNPs particles or in the oil phase of emulsion gels, could effectively improve the digestion stability (> 70%) and bioaccessibility (> 40%) under simulated gastrointestinal digestion conditions, furthermore, the curcumin-loading mode in ZPEGs had significant effects on the delivery properties. These results may be of practical importance for the development of zein-based Pickering emulsion gels for encapsulation and controlled release of bioactives, as well as for the rational design and optimization of area-confined co-loading systems.
期刊介绍：
Biophysical studies of foods and agricultural products involve research at the interface of chemistry, biology, and engineering, as well as the new interdisciplinary areas of materials science and nanotechnology. Such studies include but are certainly not limited to research in the following areas: the structure of food molecules, biopolymers, and biomaterials on the molecular, microscopic, and mesoscopic scales; the molecular basis of structure generation and maintenance in specific foods, feeds, food processing operations, and agricultural products; the mechanisms of microbial growth, death and antimicrobial action; structure/function relationships in food and agricultural biopolymers; novel biophysical techniques (spectroscopic, microscopic, thermal, rheological, etc.) for structural and dynamical characterization of food and agricultural materials and products; the properties of amorphous biomaterials and their influence on chemical reaction rate, microbial growth, or sensory properties; and molecular mechanisms of taste and smell.
A hallmark of such research is a dependence on various methods of instrumental analysis that provide information on the molecular level, on various physical and chemical theories used to understand the interrelations among biological molecules, and an attempt to relate macroscopic chemical and physical properties and biological functions to the molecular structure and microscopic organization of the biological material.
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