This work aims at developing an active chitosan film through the incorporation of quercetin and the evaluation of physical and functional properties of the films made thereof. The addition of quercetin showed to influence films' properties in terms of surface morphology, tensile strength, and opacity while elongation-at-break, thickness, water vapor, and oxygen permeability were not significantly affected with incorporation of quercetin. The color parameters of chitosan films were affected by quercetin incorporation with a decrease of the values of L* and a*. The film exhibited a high freeradical scavenging activity, showing antioxidant activity. The film-forming solutions of chitosan with or without quercetin showed antibacterial activity against four Gram-negative and three Gram-positive bacteria. These results showed that quercetin incorporation in chitosan-based films has potential to be used as a solution for active food packaging.
This study aimed at the encapsulation of quercetin into lecithin/chitosan nanoparticles using the electrostatic self-assembly technique, followed by evaluation of their functionality (antioxidant activity) and stability at different environmental conditions. These nanoparticles were characterized in terms of: average size, morphology, zeta potential, encapsulation efficiency, loading, and spectroscopic characteristics. Quercetin has been successfully encapsulated in lecithin/ chitosan nanoparticles with an efficiency of 96.13±0.44 %. Nanoparticles presented a spherical morphology with an average size of 168.58±20.94 nm and a zeta potential of 56.46±1.94 mV. Stability studies showed that nanoparticles are stable to temperatures ranging between 5 and 70°C and a pH variation from 3.3 to 5.0. Moreover, encapsulated quercetin showed improved antioxidant properties when compared to free-quercetin. Our results suggest that quercetin-loaded lecithin/chitosan nanoparticles can be used in the manufacture of functional foods.
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