Synthesis and study the properties of StNPs/gum nanoparticles for salvianolic acid B-oral delivery system

- Food gum-templated nanoparticles with controlled size and shape were prepared.
- The starch/gum nanoparticles became more stable against pH, salt and heating.
- The ternary system achieved a good controlled release of salvianolic acid B.

To fabricate stable sized and shaped controlled release delivery systems for salvianolic acid B (Sal B), different food gums were individually added to short-chain glucan solution to prepare starch nanoparticles (StNPs)/gum nanocomposites by self-assembly, and Sal B was embedded in situ. The results showed that size of StNPs was reduced to ca. 45 nm with the addition of chitosan and rosin, which decreased by over 50% than that of StNPs without the gum. The StNPs/guar gum nanocomposites had the largest size (109.2 nm) among samples of StNPs with gums. The StNPs with chitosan and gum arabic exhibited an obvious core-shell structure. The loading capacities of Sal B in StNPs, StNPs/chitosan, and StNPs/gum arabic nanocomposites were 5.2, 8.26 and 8.08%, respectively. The in vitro release of Sal B from StNPs/gum nanocomposites were sustained and prolonged for over 12 h, indicating that StNPs/gum nanocomposites are good candidates to control Sal B release.