Preparation of resveratrol-loaded ethyl cellulose microspheres via foam- transfer and its application performances

Abstract

Abstract Resveratrol (Res) has been widely used in personal-care and pharmaceutical products since it has anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective, and anti-cancer properties. In this work, it was loaded by using biodegradable ethyl cellulose (EC) as the carrier to prepare EC/Res microspheresvia a foam-transfer method. The effects of experimental conditions on the properties of EC/Res microspheres were studied, and then their application performances including the sustained release and the degradation property were investigated. The results showed that resveratrol was loaded to EC microspheres successfully, in which EC/Res microspheres were in highly porous structures. Especially, when the PVA concentration = 2.5 wt%, the stirring rate = 600 rpm, the oil/water (O/W) ratio = 1:2, the polymer concentration = 1:25, the heating rate = 0.33 ℃/min, and the viscosity of ethyl cellulose = 90~110 mpa.s, the yield of EC/Res microspheres was up to 80.70 wt% with an encapsulation ratio of 73.89%; EC/Res microspheres were than produced continuously with an even higher encapsulation rate of resveratrol, which was 90.63% with a yield of 85.58 wt%. The cumulative release of EC/Res microsphere was up to 91.97 wt% in the phosphate buffer solution(PBS) at pH = 5.0 under 45 ℃ for 120 hours. After EC/Res microspheres degraded in PBS (pH = 7.4) for 45 days, their hardness decreased from 12.01 ± 0.56 MPa to 4.02 ± 0.45 MPa. This work provided a practical solution for resveratrol’s application as functional additives in a variety of areas.