Vitamin A belongs to the group of fat-soluble vitamins, which are required in a properly balanced animal feeding program. As a matter of fact, the stability of this nutraceutical in premixes and concentrate feedstuffs is a big problem for veterinary industry and the availability of appropriately protected vitamin A to prepare fortified foods is becoming day by day necessary. To this aim, in this study various manufacturing and formulative approaches to prepare vitamin A palmitate (VAP) microcapsules have been evaluated. Three different methods were employed to prepare VAP microcapsules (40 batches): complex coacervation, ionical cross-linking and then complex coacervation followed by a further ionical cross-linking step. The microcapsules were then characterized in terms of drug loading, morphology (SEM) and stability (VAP recovery after 3, 6 and 9 months). All the microcapsules were spherical and had a mean diameter of 350 mm. The results showed that it was possible, employing method 3, to enhance the stability of VAP of about 70% in 6 months. In fact the half-life time (t50%) was 33 days for pure VAP and > 180 days for batches 36, 37 and 40.
Encapsulation of Vitamin A palmitate for veterinary nutrition: formulation, preparation and stability implications.
ALBERTINI, BEATRICE;PASSERINI, NADIA;RODRIGUEZ, LORENZO
2005
Abstract
Vitamin A belongs to the group of fat-soluble vitamins, which are required in a properly balanced animal feeding program. As a matter of fact, the stability of this nutraceutical in premixes and concentrate feedstuffs is a big problem for veterinary industry and the availability of appropriately protected vitamin A to prepare fortified foods is becoming day by day necessary. To this aim, in this study various manufacturing and formulative approaches to prepare vitamin A palmitate (VAP) microcapsules have been evaluated. Three different methods were employed to prepare VAP microcapsules (40 batches): complex coacervation, ionical cross-linking and then complex coacervation followed by a further ionical cross-linking step. The microcapsules were then characterized in terms of drug loading, morphology (SEM) and stability (VAP recovery after 3, 6 and 9 months). All the microcapsules were spherical and had a mean diameter of 350 mm. The results showed that it was possible, employing method 3, to enhance the stability of VAP of about 70% in 6 months. In fact the half-life time (t50%) was 33 days for pure VAP and > 180 days for batches 36, 37 and 40.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
