Investigation of Lipidic Solid Nanoparticles from Propolis and Bees Waxes produced by Antisolvent Precipitation Method

Antisolvent precipitation is one of the desirable methods to fabricate colloidal nanoparticles from food ingredients. The aim of this study was colloidal wax- based nanoparticles production from beeswax and propolis wax by antisolvent precipitation method. For this purpose, the effect of different parameters including solvent type (absolute ethanol, isopropanol), emulsifier type (Tween 80, sodium caseinate and their mixture in a ratio of 1:1) and the type of lipidic compounds (beeswax, propolis wax) was investigated on the parameters of particle size, polydispersity index and production yield. According to obtained results, the lowest amount of particle size belonged to absolute ethanol (205 nm) and sodium caseinate (192 nm). Emulsifier type, solvent/emulsifier type had significant (p< 0.05) linear and interactive effects respectively on polydispersity index. The polydispersity index level of both waxes was less than 0.21 and in desirable range. The results of production yield showed that mixture of emulsifier, ethanol and beeswax had the maximum amount of yield (92%, 93% and 90%, respectively). The interactive effects on production yield demonstrated that the mixture of emulsifiers, regardless to solvent and wax type used, had the highest amount. In addition, beeswax nanoparticles, which were prepared by absolute ethanol (ca. 91.5%), showed the maximum amount of yield compared to fabricated nanoparticles from both waxes with isopropanol. As results showed, antisolvent precipitation can be used as a feasible way to produce solid lipid nanoparticles. It was also determined that beeswax and propolis wax had a good potential for preparing lipid nanoparticles.