Curcumin Microparticles Produced by Electrospraying Technique with Whey Protein Isolate and β-Cyclodextrin Complex

In this research, the potential of the electrospraying technique was used for encapsulation of curcumin in natural polymers such as Whey Protein Isolate (WPI) and mixture of WPI/β-CycloDextrin (β-CD). The encapsulated particles were physicochemically characterized and curcumin release profile was evaluated. At WPI concentration of 25%, more uniform particles were formed and most of them were smaller than 0.7 µm in diameter. The encapsulation efficiency of curcumin in WPI and WPI/β-CD solutions was determined as 45.4% and 53.6%, respectively. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and ThermoGravimetric Analysis (TGA) of the obtained encapsulated curcumin revealed that WPI and WPI/β-CD polymers could not increase thermal stability of curcumin. Encapsulated curcumin had a better stability than pure curcumin at acidic and alkaline conditions, and the release of curcumin after 7 hours was lower than 40% with the sustained mode in buffer solution conditions (pH= 7.4).