ALGINATE AND CANNABIS OIL ENCAPSULATION INCREASES QUERCETIN HALF-LIFE FOR DRUG DELIVERY

Background and Aim: Quercetin, as a nutraceutical, has pharmacological and biological activities. It is found in fruits, vegetables, tea and wine as well as food supplements. It has beneficial health properties including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-cancer. But due to instability, low solubility and short half-life, is absorbed in low amounts in body and is rapidly excreted from the body. It is reported that quercetin excreted after 1 hour of ingestion. Then, some of methods such as encapsulation may be useful for slow release and delivery of this flavonoid to target cells or tissues. We aimed to assess the release time of encapsulated quercetin in alginate and cannabis oil. Methods: At first, stearic acid was added to the external oil phase, cannabis oil, in 70 ° C. Then, quercetin was dispersed and maintained to reach the room temperature. Calcium carbonate was added to alginate solution and the dispersed quercetin was added. Glacial acetic acid was added to cannabis oil as a cross-linker.Results: Release of quercetin was started after 5 h (12%) and increased slowly. Forty percent of quercetin was released after 10 h and reached at the plateau level. After 32 h, fifty percent of quercetin released. Conclusion: Alginate and cannabis oil mixture is a good choice for quercetin encapsulation to slow down the release. Then, this mixture may be applied in the quercetin delivery into the cells and/or animal studies.

Keywords:

Quercetin , alginate , cannabis oils , encapsulation