Customized oral mucosal adhesive film applied with β-carotene-loaded delivery systems using an embedded 3D printing method

According to the trend of customization, research on customized functional food using 3D printing is actively progressing. In this study, β-carotene, which has a hydrophobic property that is difficult to apply to 3D printing because it is not mixed with water solvent, was overcome by using a delivery system. β-carotene was encapsulated with emulsions, biopolymer particles, and liposomes as delivery systems, and experiments were carried out by converting it into a gel-type (emulsion-filled gel [EG], biopolymer particle-filled gel [BG], and liposome -filled gel [LG]). The encapsulation efficiencies were 84.05%, 79.28%, and 92.84% for EG, BG, and LG, respectively. Rheological properties and 3D printing results showed that BG and LG were suitable for 3D printing under some conditions, but EG showed properties that were not suitable for printing under all conditions. In the stability and dissolution tests of EG, BG, and LG, LG showed the highest results. However, the storage stability and content test results were similar for EG, BG, and LG. Finally, as a customized evaluation, stability, storage, content, and dissolution tests were conducted according to the printing pattern and nozzle size conditions. As a result, significant differences occurred in all conditions according to the printing pattern and nozzle size. These results indicate that encapsulating β-carotene with hydrophobic properties into liposomes is the most efficient and stable method for loading 3D printing, and is also available for personal customization.