Facile synthesis of food-grade and size-controlled nanocarriers based on self-assembly of procyanidins and phycocyanin

Nanocarriers provide the possibility to overcome the low solubility, poor stability, and low bioavailability of functional factors. However, most nanocarriers do not directly participate in the corresponding effects of functional factors, such as treating inflammatory bowel disease but lack the means to control their size accurately. Herein, nanocarriers were prepared by a one-pot method, using food-grade antioxidant procyanidins, vanillin, and phycocyanin as raw materials. The strategy involved the Mannich reaction among the phenolic hydroxyl groups of procyanidins, the aldehyde groups of vanillin, and the amino groups of phycocyanin. The obtained nanocarriers displayed controllable sizes ranging from 130 to 750 nm, showing good antioxidant capacity in scavenging free radicals and were biocompatible to Caco-2 cells and RAW 264.7 macrophages. Nanocarriers also exhibited an inhibitory effect on cell damage induced by acrylamide and H2O2. Moreover, the designed nanocarriers could be used for delivering active ingredients such as lutein, which showed a uniform spherical distribution, high encapsulation efficiency, and good biocompatibility. This work provides a facile synthesis method to prepare food-grade nanocarriers with functional properties, which can be potentially used in the delivery of functional factors.