The use of quercetin as a bioflavonoid is becoming increasingly common in food industries even though poor water solubility, instability, absorption, and permeability have limited its application. | Turkish Journal of Biology Turk J Biol (2017) 41: 127-140 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article Preparation, characterization, and enhanced antimicrobial activity: quercetin-loaded PLGA nanoparticles against foodborne pathogens 1 2, 1 3 Tülin ARASOĞLU , Serap DERMAN *, Banu MANSUROĞLU , Deniz UZUNOĞLU , 1 1 2 1 Büşra KOÇYİĞİT , Büşra GÜMÜŞ , Tayfun ACAR , Burcu TUNCER 1 Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Arts and Science, Yıldız Technical University, İstanbul, Turkey 2 Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Yıldız Technical University, İstanbul, Turkey 3 Department of Genetics and Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Yeditepe University, İstanbul, Turkey Received: Accepted/Published Online: Final Version: Abstract: The use of quercetin as a bioflavonoid is becoming increasingly common in food industries even though poor water solubility, instability, absorption, and permeability have limited its application. The oil-in-water single-emulsion solvent evaporation method to synthesize highly stable and soluble quercetin-encapsulated nanoparticles (NPs), in which the reaction yield, particle size, and polydispersity of the NPs are varied greatly within the process parameters of the synthesis method, has been optimized. NPs with different initial quercetin amounts were used to determine how the quercetin amount affected nanoparticle properties and antimicrobial efficiency. Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus were chosen as model bacteria due to their being foodborne pathogens. The results of antimicrobial activity evaluated by three different methods showed that the antimicrobial activity of both quercetin NPs and free quercetin was effective on gram-positive strains (L. monocytogenes and S. aureus). Additionally, it was detected that Q31
