The antioxidant molecule quercetin has been encapsulated on whey protein concentrate (WPC) microparticle by spray drying method for the improvement of its poor aqueous solubility and stability. Quercetin chosen as model antioxidants used to be as core material and WPC was selected as coating materials for microencapsulation. Microencapsulation methods used spray drying. Quercetin: Ratios of WPC (w/w) were 1:20, 1:30 and 1:40 for spray drying process. Microcapsules were used with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to observe porosities, sizes, shapes and configurationally properties and were analyzed particle size. The surface morphology and SEM characterization of free quercetin (Qur) and Quercetin-WPC microparticle (QWM) reveals that Qur are plate pieces crystal structure with 10~20 ㎛ diameter and hundreds ㎛ of length whereas microparticle are smooth and spherical with an average size of 17.5 ㎛.
The efficiency of microencapsulation about QWM was evaluated by HPLC and DPPH free radical scavenging assay, the 1:20 ratio resulted that the highest efficiency of microencapsulation is 94.2%. The in vitro release kinetics under physiological condition shows initial burst release followed by slow and sustained release in 1:20 ratio of quercetin and WPC, therefore chosen for accelerated therapeutic assay for alopecia areata.
I tested the effects of quercetin, bioflavonoid with anti-inflammatory properties and QWM on development in alopecia areata with the C3H/HeJ model. Mice with spontaneous alopecia areata were treated with subcutaneous Qur and QWM or sham injections. Hair regrowth was observed that lesion areas in both Qur and QWM-treated mice, but in none of the sham-treated mice. In addition, non-alopecia C3H/HeJ mice were heat-treated to induce alopecia, along with Qur and QWM or sham injections. As expected, the level of alopecia on dorsal area in QWM-treated areas was comparable with Qur-treated and controlled. Whereas 25% of the heat-treated mice with sham injections developed alopecia, none of the mice received QWM injections did.
Furthermore, i showed that sustained release and systemic delivery of QWM by intraperitoneal injections prevented/reduced spontaneous onset of alopecia areata. My results demonstrated that QWM provided more effective treatment for alopecia areata as well as prevention of onset of alopecia areata in the C3H/HeJ model compared to Qur. Process of microencapsulation with quercetin and QWM seems to be an effective and available material for both treatments for preexisting alopecia areata and prevention of recurrent alopecia areata in the C3H/HeJ mouse model.