Preparation of crocin nanocomplex in order to increase its physical stability

Abstract

Crocin has a good effect on a variety of diseases of the central nervous system and the cardiovascular system. This study investigated the effects of the addition of soybean soluble polysaccharide (SSPS) and avenin on the compound properties and stability of crocin under acidic (pH 2.5) and neutral (pH 7.0) conditions. The addition of SSPS can increase the encapsulation efficiency (EE) and loading amount (LA) of avenin for crocin under the conditions of pH 2.5 and pH 7.0, respectively, thus achieving a better embedding effect. And the ζ-potentials of nanocomplexes were also increased from −20.2 mV to −35.3 mV. According to the change of the peak value in the fluorescence spectrum, crocin and avenin were combined by hydrophobic force. Through the stability experiment, it can be concluded that SSPS can improve the thermal and pH stability of the avenin and crocin nanocomplexes under acidic conditions, thereby better protecting the structural stability of crocin, and providing theoretical support for the application of crocin in acidic beverages.