Mechanistic insight into the bridging–locking assembly of an ovalbumin–konjac glucomannan hydrogel for resveratrol delivery

Protein–polysaccharide hydrogels with clear gelation mechanisms and gastrointestinal robustness are attractive carriers for hydrophobic nutraceuticals. Here, a hydrogel composed of ovalbumin (OVA), konjac glucomannan (KGM), and genipin (GP), hereafter referred to as the OVA–KGM–GP hydrogel, was developed and found to form a self-supporting gel at room temperature. Apparent thermokinetic fitting provided an early clue that the OVA–KGM–GP system exhibited an integrated dehydration-stage signature rather than a simple additive thermal response, with ΔS ‡ values of −77.03 J mol −1 K −1 for OVA–KGM–GP and −88.55 J mol −1 K −1 for OVA–GP. Multiscale characterization further demonstrated that KGM guided OVA pre-assembly into interconnected structures, while GP fixed and compacted these structures into junction-like domains, yielding a hierarchically integrated lamellar–honeycomb network with elastic-dominant behavior. The hydrogel also exhibited enhanced gastric resistance, evidenced by a lower free amino group content after 2 h of simulated gastric digestion. As a delivery matrix, the hydrogel achieved a resveratrol encapsulation efficiency of 98.23%, and the bioaccessibility after 4 h simulated gastrointestinal digestion reached 70.23%, nearly two-fold that of free resveratrol (35.78%). These results support a bridging-locking assembly pathway for gelation and highlight its potential for hydrophobic nutraceutical delivery.