royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsos Research Cite this article: Sarma S, Agarwal S, Bhuyan P, Hazarika J, Ganguly M. 2022 Resveratrol-loaded chitosan–pectin core–shell nanoparticles as novel drug delivery vehicle for sustained release and improved antioxidant activities. R. Soc. Open Sci. 9: 210784. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.210784 Received: 15 June 2021 Accepted: 5 January 2022 Subject Category: Chemistry Subject Areas: nanotechnology Keywords: resveratrol, core–shell nanoparticles, drug delivery, bioavailability, antioxidant activity Author for correspondence: Mausumi Ganguly e-mail: ganguly_mausumi@rediffmail.com This article has been edited by the Royal Society of Chemistry, including the commissioning, peer review process and editorial aspects up to the point of acceptance. Electronic supplementary material is available online at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c. 5802851. Resveratrol-loaded chitosan– pectin core–shell nanoparticles as novel drug delivery vehicle for sustained release and improved antioxidant activities Shruti Sarma, Sangeeta Agarwal, Pranjal Bhuyan, Jnyandeep Hazarika and Mausumi Ganguly Cotton University, Guwahati 781001, Assam, India MG, 0000-0003-2267-8835 Resveratrol, chemically known as 3,5,4’-trihydroxy-trans- stilbene, is a natural polyphenol with promising multi-targeted health benefits. The optimal therapeutic uses of resveratrol are limited due to its poor solubility, rapid metabolism and low bioavailability. To address the issues, we have encapsulated resveratrol inside the nanosized core made of chitosan and coated this core with pectin-shell in order to fabricate a drug delivery vehicle which can entrap resveratrol for a longer period of time. The core–shell nanoparticles fabricated in this way were characterized with the help of Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, field-emission scanning electron microscope, field-emission transmission electron microscopy/ selected area electron diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscope, dynamic light scattering and zeta potential measurements. In vitro drug release study showed the ability of the core–shell nanoparticles to provide sustained release of resveratrol for almost 30 h. The release efficiency of the drug was found to be pH dependent, and a sequential control over drug release can be obtained by varying the shell thickness. The resveratrol encapsulated in a nanocarrier was found to have a better in vitro antioxidant activity than free resveratrol as determined by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging method. This work finally offers a novel nano-based drug delivery system. © 2022 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. Downloaded from https://royalsocietypublishing.org/ on 11 June 2022