Fabrication of β-carotene loaded glucuronoxylan-based nanostructures through electrohydrodynamic processing.

Various concentrations of β-carotene (2.5-20% w/w dry mucilage weight) were loaded within Cydonia oblonga mucilage (COM) which further processed through electrohydrodynamic processing (EHP) to attain BC-Loaded nanostructures of high thermochemical stability. The BC loaded COM systems were characterized in terms of droplet size, rheological properties, surface tension, and electrical conductivity and their subsequent impacts on the morphology and physicochemical attributes of the produced nanostructures were studied. Increasing the β-carotene content, increased the viscosity and droplet size of colloidal systems but diminished their conductivity and surface tension. A transition from monomodal to bimodal size distribution was also observed at higher levels of β-carotene incorporation. In the case of EHP-produced nanostructures, scanning electron microscopy observations revealed a transition from nanoparticle to nanofiber by increasing the BC content from 2.5 to 20%. At lower concentrations of BC (2.5 and 5%) electrospraying was the dominant phenomenon that resulted in producing homogenous nanoparticles while the beaded fibers and nanofiber structures were obtained at 10 and 20% concentrations of BC, respectively. Attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), and encapsulation efficiency of the produced nanostructures revealed successful encapsulation of BC into the COM polymer structure through EHP. The results of these assessments showed that the nano-particles comprising BC had more homogenous structure and higher encapsulated BC compared to the BC-loaded nano-fibers. The results of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements revealed amorphous structure of the produced nanostructures. Thermogravimetric assessments corroborated the higher thermal stability of BC loaded nanostructures compared with the free BC. These results provided novel information on the ability of COM in encapsulating bioactive agents through electrohydrodynamic processing.