Chitosan Nanoparticles Loaded with Carvacrol and Carvacryl Acetate for Improved Anthelmintic Activity

• Published in: Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society 2020-08, Vol.31 (8), p.1614-1622
• Main Authors: André, Weibson, Paiva Junior, José, Cavalcante, Géssica, Ribeiro, Wesley, Araújo Filho, José, Cavalcanti, Bruno, de Morais, Selene, de Oliveira, Lorena, Bevilaqua, Claudia, Abreu, Flávia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY
• ISSN: 0103-5053; 1678-4790
• DOI: 10.21577/0103-5053.20200047

Carvacrol (CV) and carvacryl acetate (CVA) are bioactive compounds that have anthelmintic action and the nanoencapsulation may be an alternative to potentialize their efficacy. The aim of this work was to nanoencapsulate CV and CVA using chitosan/gums and evaluate cytotoxicity and the anthelmintic activity. A 24 factorial experimental design was performed to determine the influence of gum type (arabic or chichá), amount of surfactant and the number of layers in the nanoencapsulation degree. CVA and CV presented encapsulation efficiency (EE) optimum values of 90 and 20% (experiments 8 and 9), respectively. The monolayer and bilayer formulations presented maximum size of 479 and 811 nm, respectively. Nanoencapsulated CVA (nCVA) with bilayer coating and higher surfactant levels showed good thermal stability and no toxicity. In vitro kinetics for nCVA with chitosan/chichá gum showed slower release profiles than nCVA with chitosan/gum arabic, with 50% release after 30 and 20 h, respectively. CVA and nCVA at a concentration of 150 µg mL−1 reduced the motility of H. contortus adult nematodes by 100 and 91.7%, respectively. In summary, nCVA chitosan/chichá gum showed high encapsulation efficiency, favorable release rate and anthelmintic activity against H. contortus.