Encapsulating folic acid: characterization of chitosan nano-vehicles as a food additive

DE MATTEO REGINA; PATRICIO SANTAGAPITA; GÓMEZ ANDRADE VICTORIA; CAROLINA SCHEBOR; OSCAR E. PÉREZ

Buenos Aires

Jornada; IX JORNADAS DE JÓVENES INVESTIGADORES. UNIVERSIDAD DE BUENOS AIRES; 2019

Folic Acid (FA) is a vitamin incorporated through diet whose primary medical impact isthe decrease of neural tube defects of fetus in pregnant women. This bioactive is sensitiveto environmental factors associated with food processing and storage, such as light andheating. 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 nottreated causes severe environmental problems, so employing CS in food industry is anenvironmentally friendly utilization.FA was dissolved in aqueous solution containing 10mM Tris-HCl buffer and CSdissolved in HCl solution. Both solutions were diluted to various concentrations using10mM Tris-HCl. The complexes were prepared by addition of different CSconcentrations to FA solution. FA solution, CS solution, and complexes solutions werelyophilized to obtain powdered samples.In this work, we characterized CS-FA complexes. The three principal characteristicsdetermined were: morphology, topography, and CS-FA chemical interactions. By FTIRand UV-visible spectroscopy we determined that CS and FA interact and its constant ofunion were also calculated. Through AFM and SEM we observed a predominantamorphous structure for CS, a crystalline morphism for FA, and a combination of bothfor CS-FA.Taking all into account, CS would be very appropriate to encapsulate FA generating abiocompatible matrix for exerting its controlled delivery