Proanthocyanidins have significant
biological activity and pharmacological effects and are widely used in food, medicine, and
cosmetics.
Chitosan nanoparticles loaded with
proanthocyanidins have been proven to improve their
biological activity. Given some deficiencies of
chitosan (CS), the modification of
chitosan by
folic acid (FA) can obtain new variants with different functions. For this objective, the
folic acid conjugated
chitosan was designed, and in vitro properties of
proanthocyanidins loaded nanoparticles were studied systemically. Firstly,
folic acid-
chitosan conjugate (FA-CS) was synthesized and characterized.
Folate-coupled
chitosan-loaded
proanthocyanidin nanoparticles (PC-CS/FA-NPs) were prepared by ionic gelation technique using FA-CS as a carrier. The successful nanoparticle synthesis was characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS) techniques and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The synthesized nanoparticles exhibited a spherical shape and smooth and uniform distribution features with a size range of less than 300 nm, as observed by a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Meanwhile, PC-CS/FA-NPs had good thermal and gastrointestinal digestive stability and had a protective effect on
AAPH-induced erythrocyte oxidative
hemolysis. In conclusion,
folic acid decorated
chitosan nanoparticles improved the stability and bioavailability of
proanthocyanidins in gastrointestinal digestion.