Preparation of Pickering Emulsions Stabilized by Chitosan-Protein Hydrolysate Nanoparticles: In-vitro Bioavailability, Physico-chemical, Structural and Rheological Characterization

Abstract

In the present study, chitosan-gelatin protein hydrolysates (CH-GPH) nanoparticles were synthesized and applied to stabilize Pickering emulsions for potential functional food formulations. Pickering emulsions were prepared using fish oil (CH-GPH-FO), and compared with standard commercial vegetable oil (CH-GPH-VO). The physico-chemical, morphological and rheological characterization in the present study summarises that the CH-GPH nanoparticles can emulsify fish and vegetable oils by the tri-dimensional network in the continuous phase by entrapping the free oil with electrostatic repulsions to maintain viscoelastic nature. The present investigation elucidates the role of pH, temperature and ionic strength in the preparation of Pickering emulsions. An in-vitro gastrointestinal (GI) model consisting of mouth, gastric and intestinal phases was used to characterize the bio-accessibility of Pickering emulsions. These findings showed that the emulsion systems experienced a progressive increase in mean particle size, due to droplet flocculation and coalescence. These present results suggest the potentiality of biopolymer chitosan nanoparticles as core wall materials in developing Pickering emulsions and their stability as well. Our study suggests that biopolymers accelerate the application of bioactive-based Pickering emulsions in functional food and pharmaceutical industries.