Page 170 - Demo

174 PROCEEDINGS OF INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE ON APPLIED BIOTECHNOLOGYincluding pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and industrial processes. PEG is highly soluble in water, which has been widely utilized in drug delivery to enhance the stability and solubility of drugs in vivo [11-12]. The presence of PEG was considered to help improve compatibility and dispersibility between PLA and CS [13]. Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is a fruit that has a spicy flavor and grows from a plant belonging to the Solanaceae family. Capsaicin is the main chemical component found in peppers. The less spicy varieties of peppers have capsaicinoid concentrations that range from 0.003 to 0.01% in dry weight of the pepper [14]. Among them, capsaicin accounts for approximately 69%, dihydrocapsaicin for about 22%, nordihydrocapsaicin for around 7%, homocapsaicin for about 1%, and homo-dihydrocapsaicin for approximately 1% [15]. Some previous studies showed that capsaicin has anti-inflammatory properties and can reduce pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis and muscle pain at low concentrations. At higher concentrations, it can help alleviate headaches and postoperative pain, along with other valuable biological activities such as antioxidant [16], antibacterial [17] and antifungal properties [18].Although capsaicin is a highly bioactive compound, it is poorly soluble in water. The encapsulation of capsaicin in polymer matrix is one of the methods to improve its solubility and bioavailability. To the best of our knowledge, there are no reports on encapsulation of capsaicin into CS/PLA/PEG polymer matrix structures using electrospinning. Therefore, this study aimed to prepare electrospun CS/PLA/PEG nanofibers loaded with capsaicin and study their characteristic properties including morphological, chemical, mechanical, wettability, antibacterial activities.