Green synthesis, characterization, food simulants stability, and antioxidant activity of gum Arabic-coated cyanidin-3-O-glucoside-loaded nano-nutriosomes

Cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (C3G) is a flavonoid with various biological properties, susceptible to degradation and instability under different external factors. Thus, this study aimed to develop novel gum Arabic (GA)-coated nano-nutriosomes (NUs) to improve the stability of C3G and facilitate its controlled delivery and cellular uptake as well as investigate the potential of GA-coated NU as a delivery system for C3G. The optimum concentration of GA to coat C3G-NU was 0.5% (w/v). The properties of NU systems were studied through DLS, HPLC, TEM, DSC, and FTIR. The results showed that C3G was successfully loaded in NUs and GA-NUs with a high encapsulation efficiency of 93.04% and 93.37%, nanosized 175.46 nm and 157.66 nm, with a PDI of 0.27 and 0.22, respectively. Besides, FTIR and DSC analysis showed a successful conjugation between GA and NUs, where GA-C3G-NU showed better physicochemical stability under thermal, pH, and ionic conditions, as well as GA can significantly control the release of C3G preserving around 90.16%. Furthermore, GA-C3G-NU showed better performance in C3G retention under different food simulants ≥89%. Moreover, the antioxidant activity of C3G-NU and GA-C3G-NU was DPPH (50.33 and 43.64 μg VCE/mL, respectively), and ABTS (68.50, and 44.22 μg VCE/mL, respectively). All NUs showed biocompatibility in Caco-2 cells with no cytotoxicity, with higher cellular uptake for GA-C3G-NU. Therefore, GA-NU could be a promising nanocarrier for encapsulating, controlling, and delivering functional ingredients.