ENCAPSULATING FOLIC ACID: CHARACTERIZATION OF CHITOSAN NANO-VEHICLES AS A FOOD ADDITIVE

VICTORIA A. GOMEZ ANDRADE; PATRICIO R. SANTAGAPITA; PEREZ OSCAR E.; REGINA DE MATTEO; SCHEBOR CAROLINA C.

CABA

Jornada; IX JORNADAS DE JÓVENES INVESTIGADORES; 2019

Universidad de Buenos Aires

Folic Acid (FA) is a vitamin incorporated through diet whose primary medical impact is the decrease of neural tube defects of fetus in pregnant women. This bioactive is sensitive to environmental factors associated with food processing and storage, such as light and heating. A promising approach to preserve it from those factors is its encapsulation.A propitious encapsulating agent is chitosan (CS). It is a biodegradable, biocompatible, and non-toxic polymer produced from fishing-industry waste. These waste which are not treated causes severe environmental problems, so employing CS in food industry is an environmentally friendly utilization.FA was dissolved in aqueous solution containing 10mM Tris-HCl buffer and CS dissolved in HCl solution. Both solutions were diluted to various concentrations using 10mM Tris-HCl. The complexes were prepared by addition of different CS concentrations to FA solution. FA solution, CS solution, and complexes solutions were lyophilized to obtain powdered samples.In this work, we characterized CS-FA complexes. The three principal characteristics determined were: morphology, topography, and CS-FA chemical interactions. By FTIR and UV-visible spectroscopy we determined that CS and FA interact and its constant of union were also calculated. Through AFM and SEM we observed a predominant amorphous structure for CS, a crystalline morphism for FA, and a combination of both for CS-FA.Taking all into account, CS would be very appropriate to encapsulate FA generating a biocompatible matrix for exerting its controlled delivery.