title: Prosopis alba exudate gum as novel excipient for fish oil encapsulation in polyelectrolyte bead system.
abstract: In this work, a bottom-up approach based on the study of polyelectrolyte interactions was performed in order to evaluate the effect of Prosopis alba exudate gum as novel excipient for fish oil encapsulation in composed calcium-alginate-chitosan beads. Emulsion and beads properties such as oil distribution, encapsulation efficiency, yield, microstructure and thermo-oxidative protection were evaluated. Alginate and gum exert a synergistic effect on emulsion stability properties, which conducted to better oil distribution in the beads and higher encapsulation efficiencies (98%) and yield (89%). The positive effect of including the gum as wall material was observed in terms of a higher oil retention capacity of the alginate beads, improved oxidative thermal stability and better microstructural features. Present results are promising and allowed considering P. alba gum as a novel non-conventional polyelectrolyte for improving Ca-alginate beads microstructure and stability with the added benefit of taking advantage of an available resource currently untapped.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Industrias Alimentarias II, Universidad Nacional del Chaco Austral, Comandante Fernández 755, Presidencia Roque Sáenz Peña (3700) Chaco, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Argentina. Electronic address: francovasile@uncaus.edu.ar.
authors.forename: Franco Emanuel
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Vasile
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Industrias Alimentarias II, Universidad Nacional del Chaco Austral, Comandante Fernández 755, Presidencia Roque Sáenz Peña (3700) Chaco, Argentina. Electronic address: majudis@uncaus.edu.ar.
authors.forename: María Alicia
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Judis
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Conservación de Biomoléculas, Departamento de Industrias, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria - Pabellón Industrias (1428) Buenos Aires, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Argentina. Electronic address: fmazzobre@di.fcen.uba.ar.
authors.forename: María Florencia
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Mazzobre
keywords: Calcium chloride; Calcium chloride (PubChem CID: 5284359); Chitosan (PubChem CID: 71853); Fish oil encapsulation; Hydrocolloids interaction; Ionotropic gelation; Prosopis alba exudate gum; Sodium alginate; Sodium alginate (PubChem CID: 5102882); ethanol (PubChem CID: 702); ethyl ether (PubChem CID: 3283); hydrochloric acid (PubChem CID: 313); n-hexane (PubChem CID: 8058)