The preparation, characterization, antimicrobial stability and in vitro release evaluation of fish gelatin films incorporated with cinnamon essential oil nanoliposomes

Gelatin films containing cinnamon essential oil (CEO) nanoliposomes were prepared to enhance the antimicrobial stability by thin film ultrasonic dispersion method. The results showed the mean size of CEO nanoliposomes was about 107 nm. The absolute zeta potential value was greater than 30 mV and the entrapment efficiency was above 92%. A decrease of the tensile strength (TS), water soluble (WS), water content (WC) and water vapor permeability (WVP) accompanied with an increase in elongation at break (EAB) was observed for the gelatin films incorporated with CEO nanoliposomes. SEM indicated that gelatin film added with CEO nanoliposomes had a finer inner network on their cross-section and an evener structure on their surface than the control film. At the same time, the information on FT-IR reflected that the gelatin and CEO nanoliposomes (or CEO solution) were mixed together physically without any chemical reaction. Finally, an increase in antimicrobial stability along with a decrease in CEO release rate was observed for the film incorporated with CEO nanoliposomes. Our results indicated that the incorporation of CEO nanoliposomes as a natural antibacterial agent possessed sustained release effect, which had potential for using the developed film as an active packaging.