Encapsulation of vitamin B12 with pH-sensitive biopolymers and investigation of its release through the gastrointestinal tract

In this study, a biofilm was produced using chitosan, a natural polymer, and the release potential in the gastrointestinal tract was investigated by loading vitamin B12 on this biofilm. Characterization analyzes of the synthesized biofilm were performed using FT-IR, TGA-DTA, XRD, SEM-EDS methods. In addition, the analysis results of the film before loading were compared with the analyzes made after adding vitamin B12 to the film. While examining the release potential, parameters such as pH, initial concentration, release time and solution volume were optimized using RSM. The interactive effects of these parameters in RSM were also examined. The loading and release potential of vitamin B12 to the synthesized and characterized biopolymer were investigated as a function of solution pH, initial concentration of vitamin B12, release time and solution volume. The release conditions of vitamin B12 from the biofilm were determined as pH 4.2, the initial concentration of vitamin B12 as 54.0 mg L-1, the release time as 117 min, and the solution volume as 2.1 mL. The maximum vitamin B12 release amount of the synthesized biofilm was calculated as 100%. Optimization of the experimental parameters was carried out with the MKT approach and a mathematical model for vitamin B12 release was obtained from the proposed quadratic model. Analysis of variance results showed that the determination coefficients for the use of the synthesized biofilm in vitamin B12 release were high and the R2 value was 0.9704.