Fecha de publicación: -- Fuente: PubMed "essential OR oil extract" J Sci Food Agric. 2026 Nov 9. doi: 10.1002/jsfa.71215. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTBACKGROUND: The development of sustainable delivery systems for bioactive compounds is essential to improving their physicochemical stability, bioaccessibility and functional properties in food applications. This study aimed to develop sodium alginate-based hydrogel beads through ionic gelation for the co-encapsulation of protein (HP) extracted from germinated Macrotyloma uniflorum seeds and oyster mushroom extract (OME) from Pleurotus ostreatus, thereby creating a hydrogel-based co-encapsulation system.RESULTS: Alginate hydrogel beads containing horse gram protein-oyster mushroom extract (HP-OME) complexes were successfully fabricated across HP:OME weight ratios of 1:0.1 to 1:0.3 (w/w). The beads exhibited uniform mean diameters (2.03-2.23 mm), whereas precursor colloidal suspensions showed good dispersion stability (polydispersity index = 0.28-0.34) and increasingly negative ζ-potential values (-21.40 to -30.90 mV). Encapsulation efficiency increased from 61.7% to 91.5% with increasing OME concentration. Results revealed that HPO-2 (1:0.2 w/w) showed maximum mechanical strength (hardness: 11.23 N), whereas HPO-3 (1:0.3 w/w) exhibited the highest encapsulation efficiency (61.7% to 91.50%), swelling ratio (6.06g/g) and antioxidant activity based on DPPH (i.e. 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl), ABTS [i.e. 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)] and FRAP (i.e. ferric reducing antioxidant power) assays. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analyses indicated non-covalent protein-extract interactions and structural reorganization of the polymer matrix. Simulated static in vitro gastrointestinal digestion showed limited phenolic recovery under gastric conditions and enhanced phase-specific bioaccessibility during the intestinal phase.CONCLUSION: The co-encapsulated HP-OME hydrogel beads demonstrated high encapsulation efficiency, enhanced antioxidant functionality and favorable phase-specific gastrointestinal bioaccessibility, highlighting their potential as a hydrogel-based co-encapsulation system with customizable mechanical and antioxidant attributes for functional food applications. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.PMID:43003759 | DOI:10.1002/jsfa.71215