UTILIZAÇÃO DE AGENTES ENCAPSULANTES NATURAIS NA MICROENCAPSULAÇÃO DA PRÓPOLIS MARROM POR COACERVAÇÃO COMPLEXA

Abstract

Brown propolis is a promising product due to the presence of biological properties, which are attributed to bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, phenols, and others. Microencapsulation is a technique that aims to protect the active compound from adverse conditions, herein, the propolis extract. Thus, formulations developed by the mixture of encapsulating agents, without toxicity, open possibilities of their applications in the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. Therefore, this work aimed to microencapsulate brown propolis extract by the complex coacervation technique, employing the unifying of food-grade polymers. Pectin, gum arabic, xanthan gum, and gelatin were used as encapsulating agents in two concentrations (2.5 and 5.0 g 100mL-1). Besides the characterization of brown propolis, the microcapsules were freeze-dried and assessed for morphology, encapsulation efficiency (EE %), total phenolic content (TPC), flavonoids, and scavenging activity optimized by response surface methodology. TPC and flavonoids in propolis extract were 28.6 mgGAE.g-1 and 3.86 mgQE.g-1 respectively, the scavenging activity showed 51.8% of DPPH radical inhibition. Regarding the characterization of the microcapsule’s bioactive compounds, the formulation gum arabic 2.5 g 100 mL-1 /gelatin 2.5g 100 mL-1 (GA2.5-G2.5) presented higher amounts of TPC (12.78 mgGAE.g-1) and flavonoids (3.44 mgQE.g-1). Regarding the in vitro scavenging screening, the microcapsules showed results ranging from 27.4 to 38.9%. The EE ranged from 13.38 to 53.58%. The encapsulating agent gelatin at a concentration of 2.5 g 100 mL-1 presented satisfactory results compared to 5.0 g 100 mL-1. The characterizations confirmed the microcapsules acquisition, synthesized by the complex coacervation method, for all the core materials studied. Therefore, the best concentrations and encapsulating agents, in terms of preservation of bioactive compounds, appearance, handling, and efficiency, were pectin 2.5 g 100mL-1/gelatin 2.5 g 100 mL-1 (P2.5-G2.5), gum arabic 2.5 g 100 mL-1 /gelatin 2.5g 100 mL-1 (GA2.5-G2.5), and gum arabic 5.0 g 100 mL-1/gelatin 5.0 g 100 mL-1 (P5.0-G5.0).