Flow field-flow fractionation for particle size characterization of selenium nanoparticles incubated in gastrointestinal conditions

An on-line flow field-flow fractionation (FlFFF) with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was employed for particle size characterization of selenium nanoparticles stabilized by pectin, mixed alginate/pectin, ovalbumin, and β-lactoglobulin. Under the synthesis condition used herein, the particle size increased in the following order when β-lactoglobulin, ovalbumin, mixed alginate/pectin, and pectin was used as a stabilizing agent. Upon incubation of selenium nanoparticles in gastrointestinal conditions, both in enzymatic and non-enzymatic media, particle size distributions and the surface of selenium nanoparticles changed differently. Nonetheless, more than 90% of selenium was still presented in nanometer range after gastrointestinal digestion for the nanoparticles prepared by all types of stabilizers. In addition, the results show good agreement between the particle size observed from FlFFF and TEM techniques.