Preparation of curcumin-carrying nanoemulsions using mono- and diacylglycerides enzymatically structured with bioactive fatty acids

Abstract

Nanoemulsions (NE) are employed as carrier systems of lipophilic active compounds that have low bioavailability and need to be protected from the environment; such as curcumin. In this study, enzymatically prepared monoacylglycerides (MAG) and diacylglycerides (DAG) structured with three bioactive lipids: conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), medium chain fatty acids (MCFA), and ω-3 fatty acids (ω-3 FA). The highest amounts of MAG and DAG containing ω-3 (68.8%) were obtained at 75 °C, 3:1 substrate molar ratios (SMR), 15% of Novozyme 435 and 400 rpm for 90 min. MAG and DAG containing CLA (96.84%) were successfully produced at 40 °C, 1:1 w/w, 15% of lipase RMLM and 400 rpm, for 60 min. Finally, MCFA (95.16%) were prepared at 50 °C with a substrates ratio of 1:1 w/w, 5% of Novozyme 435, and 300 rpm for 30 min. Seven nanoemulsions were formulated using: MAG-ω-3, DAG-ω-3, MAG-CLA, and DAG-CLA individually, as well as reaction mixtures containing MAG and DAG, and MCFA. All exhibited desirable characteristics of average particle size (d < 200 nm), polydispersity index (PDI; <0.2) and zeta potential (≈−30 mV) and in most cases, the NE maintained their physical properties for up to 5 weeks. It was also determined that when using the reaction mixture containing a high percentage of MAG and DAG of each lipid, the resulting NE exhibited better performance.

Practical applications

• Nanoemulsions are a new and novel carrier for the transportation of bioactive compounds that can be affected during digestion. Then, the use of the enzyme-catalysed synthesis of structured lipids as emulsifiers is an alternative for increasing the bioavailability of compounds such as curcumin.

Keywords:

• Nanoemulsions
• curcumin
• monoacylglycerides
• diacylglycerides
• bioactive lipids

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the National Council for Science and Technology of México (CONACyT), thought the grant 250784.