Nano Phytosomes of Quercetin: A Promising Formulation for Fortification of Food Products with Antioxidants

Phytosomes are recently introduced drug delivery system and novel botanical formulation to produce lipophilic molecular complex to improve absorption and bioavailability of phytoconstituent. Quercetin is a well-known flavonoid with different biological effects and contributed in food preserving by free radical scavenging activity. However, bioavailability of Quercetin is an important limiting factor for its antioxidant activities. To overcome this limitation, in the present study we aimed to produce Quercetin-loaded nano phytosomes to improve its physicochemical stability and bioavailability. Quercetin-loaded nano phytosome was prepared by using phosphatidylcholine (PC) and cholesterol (CH). Quercetin nano phytosomes system was characterized by particle size analyzer and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Results showed that formulation with the Quercetin: PC: CH molar ratio of 1: 2: 0.2 had lower particle size (80 nm) and higher encapsulation efficiency percent (98%). Results also indicated that incorporation of cholesterol improved the physical stability of nano phytosome for over three weeks. The DSC data showed that incorporation of Quercetin in the phospholipid bilayer reduced the phase transition temperature of bilayer in the nano phytosome structure resulting higher release and bioavailability. Nano phytosomal formulation of Quercetin showed promising potential in fortification of food products with water insoluble antioxidants.