A novel phenolic compounds delivery system: Oral films with extract from camu-camu industrial residue

Oral films perform promising alternatives to traditional oral delivery systems to carry and deliver bioactive compounds directly into the oral cavity. The objective of this work was to produce and evaluate oral films based on carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) and pregelatinized starch incorporated with ethanolic extract from camu-camu industrial residue (EECCIR). Although all films can be ingested without causing irritation to the oral mucosa, due to near-neutral surface pH, the starch-based oral films with and without the addition of EECCIR showed reduced tensile strength (5.48 +/- 0.97 MPa) indicating inferior mechanical properties to films based on CMC and HPMC. The CMC films, in addition to shorter disintegration time (50 +/- 5 s), showed faster release, about 70% of phenolic compounds in 10 min and 100% in 30 min. As for the release profile, the application of the Korsmeyer and Peppas and Peppas and Sahlin models allowed to better understand the mechanisms involved in the release of phenolic compounds. Although all three oral film formulations can be used as carriers of active compounds from the ethanolic extract of the camu-camu residue, the oral films based on CMC incorporated with EECCIR showed greater potential.

Automated summary

This study produced oral films based on carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), and pregelatinized starch incorporated with ethanolic extract from camu-camu industrial residue (EECCIR). Results showed that the CMC-based oral films with EECCIR exhibited better release capacity and mechanical properties compared to other formulations.