Abstract:

Hydroxyecdysone（b-HE）was encapsulated by complex coacervation with gelatin（GE）and acacia gum（AG）as the wall materials. An orthogonal design was adopted to optimize the preparation procedure of microcapsules. The microcapsules were characterized using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy（SEM），and their in vitro controlled release pattern and photostability were studied. The optimal conditions were as 3% concentration of wall materials with 1∶1 core/wall mass ratio at early pH value of 4.6 and terminal pH value of 8.0. Under these conditions，smooth and uniform microcapsules with a mean diameter of 5µm were obtained，the drug loading and encapsulation efficiency of which were 68.5% and 63.4%，respectively. The capsules prolonged the release time of the encapsulated b-HE and enhanced the photostability of b-HE.