Natural Polymeric Beads for Encapsulation of Stellaria media Extract with Antioxidant Properties

Abstract

Natural polymers are biodegradable and biocompatible and can be used as carriers of pharmaceutical active compounds, with good results for the enhancement of their stability characteristics.Plant extracts of the Cariophyllaceae family are of great interest due to antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, carminative, anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral properties, and more recently, the ability to inhibit intestinal carboxylation and reduce obesity by complex mechanisms.The aim of our study was tocharacterize the Stellaria media aqueous extract from the point of view of total polyphenols (using Folin-Ciocalteu method) and antioxidant capacity, as well as the efficiency of inclusion of Stellaria extract in calcium chloride alginate beads by two different methods. In the same time, the size of alginate microcapsules was investigated along with the released efficiencyfrom the polymeric matrix in different biological fluids.Two different methods for encapsulation of Stellaria media extract were developed in this work, using calcium alginate beads. Encapsulating efficiency shows a better approach within the method in which the extract was in situ encapsulated in �pearls�-shaped beads.