Encapsulation of St. John's Wort extract in -Cyclodextrin carrier: In-vitro antioxidant, antimicrobial and Caco-2 cell viability studies

St. John's wort (SJW) is a plant flowering species, and its extract shows antidepressant, anticancer, woundhealing, antibiotic, antiviral, antioxidant, anxiolytic and anti-inflammatory activities. However, SJW extract has low aqueous solubility and biological efficacy; it might be due to the presence of lipophilic components such as hyperforin and hypericin. To increase the aqueous solubility of SJW extract, in the present report an attempt has been made to prepare SJW extract/beta-cyclodextrin inclusion complex (IC). The LCMS analysis of SJW extract showed the presence of hyperforin and hypericin components. Morphological investigation depicted the spherical shaped mono-disperse particles of 30 nm size and DLS confirmed hydrodynamic diameter around 100 nm. The encapsulation efficiency of IC was 76%, and 92% SJW components were released from IC in 13.3 h. Caco-2 cell viability study pointed towards improved safety profile of SJW extract after beta-CD complex formation. Furthermore, synthesized IC showed higher antioxidant activity than native SJW extract. The prepared IC showed moderate antimicrobial activity for Escherichia coli (E. coli), Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis) and Bacillus cereus (B. cereus. The work would help to enhance the biological efficacy of SJW extract.