Stability study of lycopene-loaded lipid-core nanocapsules under temperature and photosensitization

The objective of this study was to evaluate the stability of nanoencapsulated lycopene (LYC-LNC) prepared by interfacial deposition of preformed poly(e-caprolactone) (PCL) during photosensitization (5 degrees C -25 degrees C), heating (60 degrees C-80 degrees C) and refrigeration (5 degrees C). LYC-LNC presented a concentration of 80.71 mu g/mL and was also analyzed in terms of mean diameter, zeta potential and morphology, as well as the position of the lycopene in the particle. During photosensitization and heating in air-saturated conditions, LYC-LNC showed activation energy of 67 kcal/mol and 24.9 kcal/mol, respectively. Those values were superior to that of free lycopene as found in the literature for both experiments. During refrigeration at 5 degrees C, the mean diameter and zeta potential of LYC-LNC remained stable for 84 days and presented approximately 40% of lycopene content. All experiments suggest that nanoencapsulation improves the stability of lycopene under different processing conditions. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.