FORMULATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NARINGIN LOADED ZEIN NANOPARTICLES

The object of this work was to prepared zein nanoparticles and load them with naringin.The zein nanoparticles were optimized by nanoprecipitation method.The stirring time, stirring speed and the pH of nanoprecipitation was also optimized.The optimized conditions included 1:1 zein/gum acacia ratio, stirring speed 400 rpm for 30 min and nanoprecipitation pH of 4.0.Naringin was loaded at three mass ratios with respect to zein (20:1, 10:1 and 5:1) for nanoprecipitation.The average particle size of the blank zein nanoparticles was obtained by DLS to be 167.3nm with a zeta potential of -25.9 mV.The yield of the naringin loaded nanoparticles was found to be 78-84% whereas the encapsulation ranged from 39.1 to 78.4%.The particle size was found to be 191.5 nm to 327.7 nm with polydispersity index ranging from 0.516 to 0.891.The highest entrapment and smallest particle size was obtained when 1:20 ratio of naringinzein was used for release and antioxidant study.A maximum of 46.49% naringin was released in 4 hours.The decline in cumulative drug percentage may be due to the degradation of naringin in solution after 4 hours.On the other hand, when encapsulated in zein nanoparticles 82.41% naringin was released steadily over 24 hours.The IC50 for DPPH inhibition was calculated from the plot and was found to be 142.24 µg/mL and 99.58 µg/mL for naringin and the naringin loaded zein nanoparticle respectively.