Erratum: Nano-encapsulation of thyme essential oil in chitosan-Arabic gum system: Evaluation of its antioxidant and antimicrobial properties

Abstract

<br /> In this study, nano-capsules based on chitosan (CS) and Arabic gum (AG) involving thyme essential oil (TEO), as an active ingredient, were prepared using the emulsion method. The nano-capsules were characterized by their encapsulation efficiency (EE), morphologies, particle size distributions, zeta potential and release (RE). The obtained results showed that nano-capsules produced using a relative ratio of CS:AG (1.5%:8.5%) clearly showed the highest encapsulation efficiency (77.67%) and zeta potential value (+ 43.17 mV). <em>In vitro </em>release study demonstrated a slow release for the samples with larger CS ratio. In addition, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed that nano-capsules sizes were over the range 385.2-756.1 nm with a rough surface shape for all samples. Moreover, quantitative values of antioxidant activity of free TEO and nano-encapsulated TEO were studied using the free radical 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The essential oil (EO) was investigated for its antibacterial activity against common Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogenic microorganisms including <em>Staphylococcus aureus </em>and <em>Escherichia coli </em>by disk diffusion and dilution (MIC) methods. Our results accounted for higher antioxidant and antibacterial activities of encapsulated TEO compared to those of free TEO. Finally, the CS:AG ratio of 1.5%:8.5% was found to be suitable wall material for TEO encapsulation.