Dados do Trabalho

Título

MICROSTRUCTURED COMPLEXES OF CARBOXYMETHYLCELLULOSE-CHITOSAN AS VEHICLES FOR CARRYING VITAMIN B1

Introdução

Microstructured carrying systems of bioactive compounds, with controlled release properties, constitutes a hotspot research field in both industry and academia, as an alternative to the challenges related to the bioavailability of components essential to human health. Thiamine (vitamin B1) stands out for its action in metabolic processes and other functions in the nervous and cardiovascular systems. Considering the instability of this vitamin in the presence of light and after heat treatments, encapsulation in biopolymeric matrices appears as a strategic way to enhance the stability and the biological activity of thiamine. The present study evaluated the encapsulation efficiency (EE) of thiamine by complex coacervation between two oppositely charged polyelectrolytes, namely chitosan (CHS) and carboxymethylcellulose (CMC).

Material e Métodos

The microcarrier systems were designed using a Box-Behnken experimental design with three independent variables: pH (3, 4 and 5), stirring time (60, 90 and 120 minutes) and concentration of vitamin B1 (0.02, 0.04 and 0.06 g/L). CHS and CMC dispersions were prepared, both 0.1% m/v. Thiamine was added to the CMC dispersion. The two dispersions were then mixed simultaneously, using a peristaltic bomb, under constant stirring. Turbid dispersions containing solid precipitates that were formed, and they were submitted to centrifugation for recovery of the supernatant, containing, presumably, the product of complexation of the biopolymers loaded with thiamine. The free vitamin B1 was quantified from the absorbance UV-Vis (λ = 292 nm) and the EE was calculated by simple difference.

Resultados e Discussão

The analysis of all experimental data (confidence interval = 95%) showed that all independent variables were statistically significant for EE, decreasing with the increase of variables (negative coefficient in the adjusted model) that is, with the increase of time and/or concentration of vitamin and pH, the observed trend is lower EE. Vitamin B1 EE ranged from 0.80 to 99.47%, the highest of which was obtained with the following experimental conditions: pH = 4, agitation time = 60 min and initial thiamine concentration = 0.04 g/L.

Conclusão

In summary, micro-complexes CMC-CHS showed a simple, promising and innovative alternative for the enrichment of food formulations with vitamin B1.