Encapsulation and controlled release of vitamin C in modified cellulose nanocrystal/chitosan nanocapsules

Jiyoo Baek; Mohankandhasamy Ramasamy; Natasha Carly Willis; Dae Sung Kim; William A Anderson; Kam C Tam

doi:10.1016/j.crfs.2021.03.010

Encapsulation and controlled release of vitamin C in modified cellulose nanocrystal/chitosan nanocapsules

Curr Res Food Sci. 2021 Apr 2:4:215-223. doi: 10.1016/j.crfs.2021.03.010. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Jiyoo Baek¹, Mohankandhasamy Ramasamy¹, Natasha Carly Willis², Dae Sung Kim¹, William A Anderson¹, Kam C Tam¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada.
² Department of System and Design Engineering, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada.

Abstract

Vitamin C (VC), widely used in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products, is susceptible to degradation, and new formulations are necessary to maintain its stability. To address this challenge, VC encapsulation was achieved via electrostatic interaction with glycidyltrimethylammonium chloride (GTMAC)-chitosan (GCh) followed by cross-linking with phosphorylated-cellulose nanocrystals (PCNC) to form VC-GCh-PCNC nanocapsules. The particle size, surface charge, degradation, encapsulation efficiency, cumulative release, free-radical scavenging assay, and antibacterial test were quantified. Additionally, a simulated human gastrointestinal environment was used to assess the efficacy of the encapsulated VC under physiological conditions. Both VC loaded, GCh-PCNC, and GCh-Sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP) nanocapsules were spherical with a diameter of 450 ± 8 and 428 ± 6 nm respectively. VC-GCh-PCNC displayed a higher encapsulation efficiency of 90.3 ± 0.42% and a sustained release over 14 days. The release profiles were fitted to the first-order and Higuchi kinetic models with R² values greater than 0.95. VC-GCh-PCNC possessed broad-spectrum antibacterial activity with a minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) of 8-16 μg/mL. These results highlight that modified CNC-based nano-formulations can preserve, protect and control the release of active compounds with improved antioxidant and antibacterial properties for food and nutraceutical applications.

Keywords: Antioxidants; CNC, Cellulose nanocrystals; Cellulose nanocrystal; Chitosan; Functional foods; GCh, GTMAC-Chitosan; Nanocapsule; PCNC, Phosphorylated-CNC; TPP, Sodium tripolyphosphate; VC, Vitamin C; VC-GCh-PCNC, Vitamin C-GTMAC-Chitosan with Phosphorylated-CNC; VC-GCh-TPP, Vitamin C-GTMAC-Chitosan with Sodium tripolyphosphate; Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid).