PHYSICAL, ANTIOXIDANT AND

ANTIMICROBIAL PROPERTIES OF
GELATIN-BASED FILMS ENRICHED WITH
NANOEMULSIONED CINNAMALDEHYDE AND
-TOCOPHEROL
Luis J. Prez Crdoba1*, Elisabete M. C. Alexandre1, Paulo J. Sobral1
1

Department of Food Engineering, FZEA, University of So Paulo, 13635-900 Pirassununga/SP, Brazil. *mail: luchop283@usp.br

INTRODUCTION
An important problem to produce active films using essential oils is it poor
dispersion into film-forming solutions (FFS). This behavior may be minimized
applying nanoemulsions, which allow a better dispersion of hydrophobic
active compounds into biopolymer matrix. This study aimed to improve
physical, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of gelatin-based films
enriched with nanoemulsioned cinnamaldehyde (C) and -tocopherol (T).

Table 2. Color parameters and gloss of gelatin-based films containing oil-in-water

nanoemulsion with different concentration (2.5gC+1.25gT or 5gC+2.5gT/100g gelatin)

Films microstructure (SEM and AFM)

MATERIAL AND METHODS

FFSs were prepared with 5g gelatin/100g FFS, 30g glycerol/100g gelatin,
and enriched with oil-in-water nanoemulsions containing 2.5gC+1.25gT or
5gC+2.5gT/100g gelatin.
Active gelatin-based films were prepared by casting method.
Film thickness was kept constant in 80 m and after films were further
characterized and tested (Fig. 1).
Active gelatin-based films

Physical properties

Mechanical properties (ASTM

standard method 882, 2001)

Antioxidant activity

Antimicrobial activity

DPPH assay (BrandWilliams et al., 1995)

Agar disc diffusion

method (NCCLS, 1997)
C2.5:T1.25 ratio

Pure gelatin
Color and Gloss

SEM and AFM

Figure 1. Physical, antioxidant and antimicrobial analysis of active gelatin-based films

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Figure 2. SEM and AFM images of active gelatin-based films

The SEM images (Fig. 2) showed a homogeneous distribution of oil droplets

into the polymer matrix. The cross-section and AFM analysis showed that
films enriched with nanoemulsioned C and T had a marked increase on
average and root mean square roughness in respect to pure gelatin film.

Antimicrobial and Antioxidant activity

Mechanical properties
Films produced with nanoemulsioned active compounds presented lower
tensile strength (TS), lower elastic modulus (EM) and higher elongation at
break (EB) (p<0.05) as compared to pure gelatin films (Table 1).
Table 1. Mechanical properties of gelatin-based films containing oil-in-water nanoemulsion
with different concentration (2.5gC+1.25gT or 5gC+2.5gT/100g gelatin)

Color and Gloss parameters

The a* values decreased, while b* values increased (p<0.05) as a function of
active compounds concentration (Table 2). No effect was observed for
Luminosity (L*). Nanoemulsions reduced the film gloss (p<0.05) as
compared with the pure gelatin film, in 5.6% and 35.8% for C2.5:T1.25 and
C5:T2.5 ratios, respectively.

C5:T2.5 ratio

Table 3. Antioxidant activity (Inhibition

percentage (%) of radical DPPH)

S. aureus

P. aeruginosa

Gelatin pure film

1.8 0.1

C2.5:T1.25

11.4 0.7

C5:T2.5

26.8 1.0

Figure 3. Antimicrobial activity

Gelatin-based films with nanoemulsioned C and T not showed antimicrobial

activity against S. aureus and P. aureaginosa (Fig. 3) But, it presented
excellent antioxidant activities in respect to pure gelatin films (Table 3).

CONCLUSION
Developed gelatin-based films activated with nanoemulsioned C and T
presented suitable physical properties along with strong antioxidant activity,
indicating their potential use as active and biodegradable packaging material
for food preservation.
Acknowledgement: To the So Paulo Research Foundation FAPESP for the PhD
fellowship (13/14324-2) of the first author. Work of the CEPID-FoRC (13/07914-8)