Evaluation of antimicrobial activity and properties of gelatin nanofibers containing lavender essential oil

Lavender essential oil has herbal uses in cosmetic, food and pharmaceutical industries. In this research, for the first time, the encapsulation of lavender essential oil by gelatin biopolymer was done by electrospinning method. At first, the chemical compounds of lavender essential oil were identified with the help of gas chromatography associated with a mass spectrometer (GC-MS) and then 0, 2.5, 0.5 and 0.10% v/v were added to the electrospinning solution. The prepared nanofibers have been evaluated using scanning electron imaging (SEM), thickness determination (Image J), X-ray diffraction, mechanical properties, and essential oil loading efficiency. Also, the antibacterial activity of nanofibers against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium were investigated by disk diffusion method. The most important components of lavender essential oil were linalool (35.21%) and linalyl acetate (26.47%). All nanofibers had a uniform and continuous shape. By increasing the concentration of essential oil in the electrospinning solution, the values of thickness (431.5 - 705.3 nm) and essential oil content (4.7-14.6%) increased. Lavender essential oil had no effect on crystallinity of nanofibers, but caused a significant decrease in Young's modulus and stiffness. The nanofiber sample containing 10% lavender essential oil recorded the highest hardness, Young's modulus and elasticity. Evaluation of antibacterial activities showed that nanofiber samples containing essential oils had appropriate antibacterial activities against all target bacteria. The effectiveness of gelatin nanofiber + lavender essential oil (10%) against S. aureus and B. cereus. According to the results of the research, it is possible to use gelatin nanofibers containing lavender essential oil for active food packaging. Expressing the definitive result requires conducting clinical and a real environment tests.