Stability enhancement of fish oil by its encapsulation using a novel hydrogel of cress seed mucilage/chitosan

Novel cress seed mucilage/chitosan (CSM/CS) hydrogels were fabricated for fish oil encapsulation and process parameters were optimized using the response surface methodology. The effect of different parameters (i.e., polysaccharide concentration, CSM/CS volume ratio and percentage of fish oil) on particle size, encapsulation load and efficiency were studied. Microcapsules were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The oxidative test showed that produced hydrogels were efficient to postpone fish oil oxidation. The TGA results indicated that thermal stability of the prepared hydrogels increased due to CSM and CS interactions. Developed carriers could be used for encapsulation of hydrophobic compounds to protect them against oxidation and increase their solubility in aqueous media.