Volume 10 Issue 4
Nov.  2025
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Article Navigation >  Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts  > 2025  >  10(4): 560-575
Jinpeng Zhu, Yunhao Lu, Yumeng Xia, Qiang He. Cellulose nanofibrils-stabilized legume protein-based pickering emulsions for capsaicin delivery: Fabrication, characterization, and encapsulation mechanism exploration☆[J]. Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts, 2025, 10(4): 560-575. doi: 10.1016/j.jobab.2025.09.004
Citation: Jinpeng Zhu, Yunhao Lu, Yumeng Xia, Qiang He. Cellulose nanofibrils-stabilized legume protein-based pickering emulsions for capsaicin delivery: Fabrication, characterization, and encapsulation mechanism exploration☆[J]. Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts, 2025, 10(4): 560-575. doi: 10.1016/j.jobab.2025.09.004
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Cellulose nanofibrils-stabilized legume protein-based pickering emulsions for capsaicin delivery: Fabrication, characterization, and encapsulation mechanism exploration☆

doi: 10.1016/j.jobab.2025.09.004

  • College of Biomass Science and Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China

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  • Corresponding author: E-mail address: natsuamex@gmail.com (Y. Xia); E-mail address: heq361@163.com (Q. He)
  • Received Date: 2025-06-08
  • Accepted Date: 2025-09-03
  • Rev Recd Date: 2025-08-31
    • Available Online: 2025-09-22
  • Publish Date: 2025-11-01
    Abstract
  • Capsaicin (CAP) faces limitations in its widespread application due to its low bioaccessibility. Pickering emulsions based on legume proteins are efficient for encapsulating bioactive compounds, but poor solubility and environmental sensitivity of proteins undermine emulsion stability. To tackle these challenges, this study developed a novel Pickering emulsion by using cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) and chickpea protein isolate (CPI) for efficient CAP delivery. The combination of CPI and CNF at a ratio of 20꞉1 (w/w) exhibited the highest encapsulation efficiency (70.90% ± 1.66%) and sustained release properties during in vitro digestion, thereby enhancing CAP bioaccessibility from 39.40% ± 2.33% to 81.54% ± 1.95%. Notably, CNF also enhanced emulsion stability through enhanced hydrogen bonding, reduced droplet size (589.51 ± 47.08 nm), and increased hydrophobicity (contact angle: 85.83° ± 1.20°). Comprehensive characterization revealed that the incorporation of CNF significantly improved the colloidal properties of the emulsion, including its rheological behavior and thermal stability. Mechanistic investigations demonstrated that the enhanced encapsulation capability was attributed to the formation of stable hydrogen-bonding networks between CNF and CPI. Moreover, CAP is bound with CPI through synergistic hydrogen bonding and van der Waals interactions, with Arginine-179 identified as the key residue for binding (binding free energy: 10.46 kJ/mol). These findings offer valuable insights into the development of plant-based nanocarrier systems and highlight the potential of CNF-legume protein complexes in the delivery of bioactive compounds.

     

    • Declaration of competing interest
    The authors declare that they have known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
    Data availability
    Data will be made available on request.
    Supplementary materials
    Supplementary material associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.jobab.2025.09.004.
    ☆ Peer review under the responsibility of Editorial Office of Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts.
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