Abstract：Nobiletin (Nob)， one of polymethoxyflavones， is rich in the citrus peels. It has numerous bioactivities， such as anti-inflammatory， anti-tumor， improvement of obesity and insulin resistance. However， due to the low water-solubility and high-crystalline， nobiletin has the low bioavailability. Cinnamaldehyde crosslinked-chitosan beads were prepared in the present work by using chitosan and emulsification technique， which was further used to encapsulate nobiletin. The results showed that the formation and structure of beads depended on the cinnamaldehyde/chitosan ratio， storage time and heat treatment (ambient temperature， 50℃). The presence of cinnamaldehyde promoted the formation of chitosan beads and all the emulsions could be entrapped. Blank chitosan beads were easier to collapse under acid condition. After the ambient storage treatment under alkaline solution or 50℃ heat treatment， beads became harder and their surface morphology became more compact. Meanwhile， their stability under acid condition was enhanced. In-vitro release experiments showed that release rate of nobiletin reduced with higher cinnamaldehyde content. The treatment of ambient storage or heat treatment was able to modulate the release of nobiletin. In-vitro digestion experiment revealed that the bioaccessibility of nobiletin was 60.8%， 48.3% and 33.3% in the blank emulsions， beads treated under ambient storage and beads treated by heat， respectively. The results indicated that cinnamaldehyde/chitosan beads would be a good matrix to encapsulate emulsions and control the release of nobiletin during the gastrointestinal tract.
2018, Vol. 52 
