Fabrication, characterization and functional attributes of zein-egg white derived peptides (EWDP)-chitosan ternary nanoparticles for encapsulation of curcumin: Role of EWDP

• Published in: Food chemistry 2022-03, Vol.372, p.131266-131266, Article 131266
• Main Authors: Liu, Jingbo, Li, Yajuan, Zhang, Hui, Liu, Shitong, Yang, Meng, Cui, Meiyan, Zhang, Ting, Yu, Yiding, Xiao, Hang, Du, Zhiyang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chitosan; Curcumin; Egg white derived peptides; Self-assembly nanoparticles; Zein
• ISSN: 0308-8146; 1873-7072
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.131266

•Zein-EWDP-chitosan ternary nanoparticles were fabricated to deliver curcumin.•EWDP exhibited properties as both a nutraceutical and affinity agent.•The addition of EWDP showed better encapsulation efficiency to curcumin.•EWDP and curcumin exerted a synergistic effect in the ternary nanoparticles.•EWDP combined with CS enhanced the various stability of curcumin. The food-derived peptides hydrolyzed from native food protein matrix exhibited various bioactivities and multimeric structures, which make them the promising well-defined nanoplatforms candidates to co-deliver themselves with other bioactive compounds. In this study, zein-egg white derived peptides-chitosan (Z-EWDP-CS) ternary nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully fabricated by the spontaneous assembly to enhance the stability and bioactivity of curcumin (Cur). The novel ternary NPs exhibited a typical nano-spherical structure (138.63 nm, 40.50 mV), and adorable encapsulation efficiency (EE, 93.87%) for Cur. FTIR, XRD and DSC results verified that Cur changed from a crystalline state to an amorphous state, and was successfully entrapped in the cavity of Z-EWDP-CS NPs. Furthermore, the thermal stability, photochemical stability, salt stability, and antioxidant activity were considerably improved in the NPs after the addition of EWDP. Our results demonstrate that the food-derived peptides could be an ideal affinity agent for the co-delivery of themselves with hydrophobic nutraceuticals.