Abstract

This work aimed at studying the effect of molecular weight (MW) and deacetylation degree (DD) of chitosan on the quercetin bioaccessibility encapsulated in alginate/chitosan-coated zein nanoparticles (alg/chiZN). The chitosan coating layer produced nanoparticulate systems with good stability parameters, high encapsulation efficiency (EE) and a higher bioaccessibilty of quercetin after in-vitro digestion. By increasing the DD of chitosan, the zeta-potential of the colloidal system significantly increased (>= 27.1 mV), while low and very low MW chitosans generated systems with smaller particle sizes (<= 277.8 nm) and polydispersity index [PDI (0.189)]. The best results, in terms of EE (>= 84.44) and bioaccessibility (>= 76.70), were obtained when the systems were prepared with low MW chitosan and high DD. Thus, the alg/chiZN nanocapsules may be a promising delivery system for improving the quercetin bioaccessibility or other compounds with a similar chemical nature, especially when higher DD and lower MWs are used.