Lactoferrin-based nanoparticles as a vehicle for iron in food applications – Development and release profile

• Bovine lactoferrin (bLf) nanoparticles were produced to carry iron.
• bLf-iron nanoparticles stability was assessed under diverse environmental conditions.
• Releasing of iron from bLf nanoparticles was found to be pH responsive.
• Iron release profile from nanoparticles was explained by linear superposition model.
• bLf-iron nanoparticles showed promising potential to be applied in food products.

This study aims at developing and characterizing bovine lactoferrin (bLf) nanoparticles as an iron carrier. bLf nanoparticles were characterized in terms of size, polydispersity index (PdI), electric charge (ζ-potential), morphology, structure and stability over time. Subsequently, iron release experiments were performed at different pH values (2.0 and 7.0) at 37 °C, in order to understand the release mechanism. bLf (0.2%, w/v) nanoparticles were successfully produced by thermal gelation (75 °C for 20 min). bLf nanoparticles with 35 mM FeCl3 showed an iron binding efficiency value of approximately 20%. The nanoparticles were stable (i.e. no significant variation of size and PdI of the nanoparticles) for 76 days at 4 °C and showed to be stable between 4 and 60 °C and pH 2 and 11. Release experiments at pH 2 showed that iron release could be described by the linear superposition model (explained by Fick and relaxation phenomenon). On the contrary, the release mechanism at pH 7 cannot be described by either Fick or polymer relaxation behaviour. In general, results suggested that bLf nanoparticles could be used as an iron delivery system for future food applications.

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