Characterization of cellulose acetate/gum Arabic fibers loaded with extract of Viburnum opulus L. fruit

Abstract

Fruits of Viburnum opulus L. (also called European cranberry) are well known for their high antioxidant activity. In this work, novel encapsulation matrices were fabricated by electrospinning of cellulose acetate (CA) and gum Arabic (GA) blends in different compositions and their performance for encapsulation of Viburnum opulus L. fruit extract was evaluated. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results showed that CA-GA hybrid fibers were bead-free and smooth, exhibiting diameters ranging from 527 to 670 nm and 544–870 nm for unloaded and loaded fibers, respectively. Encapsulation efficiency of the extract was between 83 and 87%. The 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging assay exhibited that after 14 days of storage at 4 °C and 25 °C, antioxidant activity (%) of free extract was found to be 40% and 34%, respectively. Antioxidant activities of extract loaded fibers were significantly higher ranging from 56% to 59% and 55%–58% at 4 °C and 25 °C, respectively. In-vitro release study showed that 43% of the extract in neat CA fibers was released into buffer medium within 54 h, while considerably higher values (54%–62%) were obtained for GA incorporated fibers. The release of the extract from electrospun fibers can be effectively controlled by blending CA with GA at different ratios.