Preparation and characterization of particle-filled microgels by ion induction based on zein and κ-carrageenan for delivering the CoQ10

The aim of this paper was to develop novel particle-filled microgels based on zein and κ-carrageenan for delivering the coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). The anti-solvent precipitation and potassium ion induction methods were combined to produce the zein-CoQ10-κ-carrageenan particle-filled microgels with different mass ratios (100:10:20, 100:10:40, 100:10:60, 100:10:80, 100:10:100 and 100:10:120). Results showed that zein-CoQ10-κ-carrageenan (100:10:60) particle-filled microgels were the optimized formulation, which exhibited an average particle diameter of 807.4 nm and a zeta-potential of −28.4 mV. Their encapsulation efficiency and loading capacity for CoQ10 reached 84.9% and 2.55%, respectively. The particle-filled microgels effectively reduced the chemical degradation of CoQ10 under intense light irradiation and high temperature. Moreover, the simulated gastrointestinal digestion assay revealed that the particle-filled microgels controlled the release of CoQ10, which might contribute to its improved oral bioavailability. These findings suggested that particle-filled microgels based on zein and κ-carrageenan might be a promising and effective delivery system for CoQ10 as well as other bioactive molecules.