LWT - Food Science and Technology 134 (2020) 110127 Available online 27 August 2020 0023-6438/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Resveratrol-loaded proniosomes: Formulation, characterization and fortifcation P.A. Shruthi, Heartwin A. Pushpadass * , Magdaline Eljeeva Emerald Franklin, Surendra Nath Battula, N. Laxmana Naik ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Southern Regional Station, Bengaluru, 560030, India A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Encapsulation Entrapment effciency Niosomes Proniosomes Resveratrol ABSTRACT Resveratrol was encapsulated into proniosomes with the aim of enhancing its applications in food. Maltodextrin, lactose monohydrate and pullulan were used as wall materials for the preparation of resveratrol-loaded pro- niosomes by thin-flm hydration technique. The morphological, microstructural, entrapment and release prop- erties were determined. The wall material had marked (p < 0.01) infuence on the shape and hydrodynamic diameter of proniosomes. Maltodextrin-based proniosomes were smooth and spherical shaped while lactose and pullulan-based proniosomes were faky with sharp edges. The maltodextrin-based niosomes had the lowest hy- drodynamic diameter of 168.73 nm, zeta potential of 29.6 mV, entrapment effciency of 90.11%, and release of 21.8% at 2 h and 78.2% after 8 h in gastric and intestinal conditions, respectively. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffractometry confrmed successful encapsulation of resveratrol. The antioxidant ac- tivity of maltodextrin and lactose-based resveratrol-loaded proniosomes was comparable to that of pure resveratrol. From dynamic light scattering, FTIR, in-vitro release, and antioxidant activity studies, it could be concluded that encapsulation of resveratrol as proniosomes would considerably enhance its bioavailability. Milk and yogurt fortifed with resveratrol-loaded proniosomes did not exhibit any adverse effect on organoleptic qualities. 1. Introduction Resveratrol, a natural polyphenol of stilbene family, is present in plant sources such as grape skin, peanuts, mulberry, etc. (Amri, Chau- meil, Sfar, & Charrueau, 2012). It is an effective biological antioxidant, which could help in controlling free radicals causing oxidative stress-induced cardiovascular diseases, atherosclerosis, cancer, etc. The poor aqueous solubility and lipophilicity of resveratrol makes its utili- zation in beverages and food systems diffcult. Owing to its low oral bioavailability, chemical instability and lipophilic nature (Pando, Beltr´ an, Gerone, Matos, & Pazos, 2015), resveratrol needs to be encap- sulated (Joye, Davidov-Pardo, Ludescher, & McClements, 2015). Nanoencapsulation involves loading bioactive agents within carrier materials at nanometer scale. It could protect them from digestion and destruction by pancreatic fuids (Tagliazucchi, Verzelloni, Bertolini, & Conte, 2010), and facilitate their controlled-release in the gastrointes- tinal (GI) tract. Niosomes are nanoscopic vesicles with an aqueous core encircled by a non-ionic surfactant membrane, thereby forming closed bilayers (Lasic, 1990; Sahin, 2007). Such niosomes are biodegradable, non-immunogenic and biocompatible. The vesicles entrain the bio- actives that are released at a sustained rate in the GI tract. Though niosomes are chemically stable, they could aggregate and leak the encapsulated bioactive compound, thereby limiting their shelf-life (Hu & Rhodes, 1999; Payal, Nilima, & Pallavi, 2017). Instead, nano- encapsules in the form of proniosomes provide better physical and chemical stability and longer shelf-life (Ezhilarasi, Karthik, Chhanwal, & Anandharamakrishnan, 2013). As compared to other nanoencapsulates such as nano-liposomes and niosomes, the dry and free-fowing powder form of proniosomes is immune from common problems such as fusion, aggregation, sedimentation and leakage during storage. It is also possible to produce proniosomes on a large-scale without the use of undesirable solvents. Proniosomes could be hydrated to form multilamellar niosomal dispersions that are suitable for food fortifcation (Mittal, Chaudhary, Chaudhary, & Kumar, 2020; Payal et al., 2017; Yuksel, Bayindir, * Corresponding author. E-mail address: heartwin1@gmail.com (H.A. Pushpadass). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect LWT journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/lwt https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2020.110127 Received 7 April 2020; Received in revised form 12 August 2020; Accepted 26 August 2020