International Research Journal of Education and Technology

The objective of the present investigation is to formulate zein nanoparticles and encapsulate it with phytoconstitutent berberine and characterize the nanoparticles for various parameters. the zein nanoparticles were optimized by nanoprecipitation method. Various ratio of zein-guargum (10:1, 5:1, 1:1, 1:2 and 1:5) were used to optimize the ratio for NP preparation. The stirring time, stirring speed and the pH of nanoprecipitation was also optimized. The optimized conditions included 1:2 zein-guar gum ratio, stirring speed 600 rpm for 30 min and nanoprecipitation pH of 4.0. Berberine was loaded at three mass ratios with respect to zein (20:1, 10:1 and 5:1) for nanoprecipitation. The berberine loaded nanoparticles were evaluated for production yield, encapsulation efficiency, particle size, polydispersity, zeta potential, in vitro drug release by dialysis method and antioxidant activity by DPPH assay. The average particle size of the blank zein nanoparticles was obtained by DLS to be 160.4 nm with a zeta potential of -17.3 mV. The yield of the berberine loaded nanoparticles was found to be 83.2-91.5% whereas the encapsulation ranged from 45.3 to 69.7%. The particle size was found to be 191.5 nm to 251.8 nm with polydispersity index ranging from 0.418 to 0.701. A maximum of 69.18% berberine was released in 4 hours. Berberine has an elimination half-life of around 4.8 hours and the decline in cumulative drug percentage may be due to the degradation of berberine in solution after 4 hours. The IC₅₀ value was calculated from the plot and was found to be 122.058 µg/mL and 98.984 µg/mL for berberine and the berberine loaded zein nanoparticle respectively.

Keywords

Berberine, antioxidant, nanoprecipitation, zein, nanoparticles