Encapsulation of echium oil and saffron extract in electrospun nanofibers

Abstract

In this doctoral thesis, it was aimed to investigate the production of nanofibers containing Echium seed oil and bioactive compounds of saffron using biopolymers, the characterization of nanofibers and the in vitro release and kinetic studies of obtained nanocarriers. In addition, the different applications of nanofibers (carrier system or food coating material) were studied. Bioactive compounds possess many health promoting properties, therefore there is a growing interest in development of functional foods fortified with them. Echium seed oil is an important plant-origin source of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs), especially stearidonic acid (SDA). The importance of SDA, is due to its function as a precursor in biosynthesis of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and its conversion efficiency to EPA (30 %) is higher than ALA (around 7%). Moreover, they have anti-cancer activity, and they probably reduce coronary diseases and immune disorders. Saffron is also attracting consumers' attention due to including valuable bioactive compounds exert important health-promoting effects. Crocins, picrocrocin, and safranal are the three main bioactive ingredients present in saffron stigmas and they exhibited antioxidant, antitumor and neuroprotective activities. Therefore, in this thesis study, electrospinning as an emerging electrohydrodynamic method, has been applied for encapsulation of PUFAs and saffron extract (SE), in addition the potential of SE as a natural antioxidant to enhance oxidative stability of encapsulated oil in nanofibers was evaluated. First, saffron bioactive compounds were extracted by conventional and novel approaches using different solvents, then the extract with the highest antioxidative activity was freeze-dried and incorporated into several edible oils to retard their lipid oxidation measured by Rancimat test (Chapter 3). Then, in Chapter 4, it was aimed to produce nanofibers from SE and EO by electrospinning using different coating materials. The electrospun Pul-Pec and Pul-PPI-Pec nanofibers (NFs) loaded with SE, SE loaded nanoliposome (SENL) and EO emulsion were produced using water as a solvent. Morphological studies by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that uniform Pul-Pec and Pul-PPI-Pec NFs with average diameters of 112 nm and 115 nm were fabricated, by the addition of EO, the diameters of fibers increased to 163 and 125 nm. Moreover, thicker fibers were formed by incorporation of both bioactive compounds (EO and SENL) into electrospinning blends. SE and EO embedded into the blend NFs had encapsulation efficiencies (EE) greater than 70% and 65%, respectively. The FTIR spectra of all NFs were recorded at various storage days (50°C), and the A 3010 cm-1/A 2925 cm-1 ratio were calculated for each sample. This ratio indicates the unsaturation degree of the encapsulated oil. The values of this ratio which was calculated for samples revealed an upward trend, and the largest values belonged to EO-loaded PPI-Pul-Pec NFs with SELN. Therefore, this encapsulant provided the best protection for EO against oxidation. Beside FTIR method, isothermal differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) method was used to determine the oxidative stability of EO and EO embedded in NF matrix. The onset oxidation times (Ot) were obtained from DSC exotherms of NF samples. Four different temperatures were used to calculate activation energy values (Ea) and to predict the shelf-life of EO loaded NF samples. The DSC outcomes were in consistent with FTIR results. Incorporating SENL in EO loaded Pul-PPI-Pec NFs caused up to a three-fold increase in Ot at 20°C compared to control samples (EO loaded Pul-PPI-Pec NFs without SE). In addition, the greatest Ea (100.8 Kj.mol-1) and longest shelf-life was observed for this sample. The release behavior of both bioactive compounds and the kinetics involved were evaluated by fitting the release profile data to different kinetic models such as Rigter-Peppas, Zero-order, First-order, and Higuchi. The crocin-4 release rate from SELN loaded NF blends (58–62% over 7 hours) was noticeably slower than that of unencapsulated SE (80% over 3 hours). Crocin-4 transfer from unencapsulated SE followed zero-order kinetics, although its release from NF samples followed Ritger-Peppas model involved Fick-diffusion mechanism. EO release from Pul-PPI-Pec NFs governed by a Fickian diffusion mechanism according to the best fitted model (Ritger-Peppas). However, for cross-linked Pul-Pec loaded EO NFs under simulated intestinal fluid, the release mechanism was non-Fickian which governed by combinations of diffusion and erosion. The release rate of EO was slower in cross-linked Pul-Pec NF blend due to their greater resistance against degradation. In Chapter 5, zein nanofibers (ZNs) loaded with SE were produced by electrospinning method, which were subsequently used as a nanocoating material. The influences of concentration and voltage are investigated on the electrospinning process. The zein polymer was prepared in three different concentrations (20, 25 and 30 wt%) through dissolving in ethanol-water (80:20) and then exposed to high voltages (6 and 14 kV). In addition, the solution properties including viscosity, surface tension and electrical conductivity of polymers were determined and correlated with the morphology of resulted fibers. SEM images showed that smooth and bead-free NFs were obtained via electrospinning of zein at 30% w/v concentration, while zein particles and mixtures of nanofibers and beads was generated from zein solutions at 15 and 20 wt% concentrations. Moreover, fibers obtained at applied voltage of 6 kV resulted in narrower fibers. Consequently, zein nanofibers (30 wt%) was selected as a carrier to encapsulate SE (5 and 10 wt% respect to zein weight). The resulted ZNs loaded with SE were characterized in terms of morphology, thermal and molecular properties, encapsulation efficiency and antioxidant activity. Addition of SE (10%) into ZNs caused a significant increase in mean fiber diameter from 369 to 440 nm at 6 kV. The encapsulation efficiency (EE) of SE components within ZNs was assessed by HPLC method. EE of total crocin and picrocrocin, in ZNs loaded with SE (ZNLSE10%), were 64% and 47%, respectively. Picrocrocin and four glycosyl esters of crocetin, namely trans-crocin-4, trans-crocin-3, cis-crocin-3, and cis-crocin-4, were detected in SE by LC-MS. The alteration in the crystal structure of SE was validated by DSC profiles, demonstrated that SE molecules were successfully embedded into the zein proteins. The FTIR spectra of ZNLSE, indicated the disappearance of several peaks because of shifting in signals and in plane-bending of hydroxyl groups, it can be proof for formation of secondary interactions between hydroxyl functional groups of crocins and amino groups (NH2) of zein. The ZNLSE (10 wt%) exhibited the greatest antioxidant activity compared to SE and ZN as controls. In final step, with the aim of exploring the efficiency of ZNLSE on shelf-life and quality of fish fillets, skinless fish fillets were nanocoated with ZNLSE (10%). Deterioration of the fish samples at 2 ± 1 °C during the 8-days-storage period was investigated through several physicochemical tests including volatile basic nitrogen (TVBN), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), peroxide value (PV), free fatty acid (FFA) and pH. The TVBN values of the coated samples were 30% lower than those of the control group on the 8th day of cold storage. Lipid oxidation in coated samples was also retarded according to the results of PV and TBARs analysis. In contrast to coated samples, PV of uncoated samples increased gradually from 1.3 to 4.4 meq O2/kg until the 4th day of storage, and then decreased until 8th day whereas PV of coated samples showed an increasing trend and reached to 3.27 meq O2/kg on 8th day, and their PV were lower than control. The FFA values of control and treated samples slowly increased throughout storage, however the rate of increase for FFA values remained slower than control. It has been concluded that zein based nanofibers loaded with SE have the potential as an active food packaging layer to extend the shelf life of fish fillets. In Chapter 6, the fabrication, characteristics, and release behaviors of SE (10 wt%) loaded zein, Pul-Pec, and Pul-PPI-Pec NFs were investigated. The morphology of three different NFs was investigated by SEM. The resulted NFs were smooth and homogenous without bead structure, and they had fiber diameters ranging from 103 to 115 nm. To observe the interactions of the bioactive compounds in saffron with various polymers as well as changes in the secondary structure of proteins, FTIR tests were also carried out. The in vitro release of crocin from NFs were kinetically studied under gastrointestinal media, with and without the digestive enzymes. Furthermore, in vitro release studies were performed using Franz diffusion cells in PBS solution. The fitting of in vitro release data into Ritger-Peppas model, indicated that crocin transfer followed Fickian diffusion mechanism for Pul-Pec and Pul-PPI-Pec NFs samples and non-Fickian for zein NFs. The release data belongs to in vitro release studies by Franz-diffusion cells best fitted with Ritgar-Peppas and Higuchi models, in addition the crocin release was governed by Fickian controlled diffusion transport. According to the results, it can be concluded that SE-loaded NFs have the potential to be used as a carrier to provide prolonged release of SE and maybe for transdermal applications as a food supplement. In the final part of the study, the general discussions and concluding remarks are given in Chapter 7 along with prospects and challenges.