Citrus bergamia (C. bergamia,) commonly known as bergamot orange, is a small, aromatic citrus fruit primarily cultivated in the Calabria region of southern Italy. It is renowned for its distinctive aroma and is widely used in the production of essential oils, particularly bergamot oil, which is a key ingredient in perfumes, flavorings, and aromatherapy.
Research has indicated that the essential oil derived from Citrus bergamia may also have some health benefits including:
- Mood Enhancement and Stress Relief
- Antimicrobial
- Anti-inflammatory
- Cholesterol Management
- Antioxidant Activity
and - Digestive Health
In the paper published in ScienceDirect, Development of Citrus bergamia self-nanoemulsifying system with evaluation of its biological activities and molecular docking analysis, researchers formulated C. bergamia essential oil as self-nanoemulsifying systems (SNES) in order to identify the optimal formulation for an essential oil delivery system.
The researchers concluded that this study, “effectively established a self-nanoemulsifying system for C. bergamia oil and showed that several biological activities, such as antioxidant, anti-diabetic, anti-obesity, antibacterial (in diffusion experiments), and anticancer capabilities, may be improved by this formulation.”
They went on to state,
“The size-dependent effect is the primary mechanism by which bioactivity is enhanced. The nanoscale droplet size (<200 nm) and high negative zeta potential guarantee stability through electrostatic repulsion. However, the most considerable aspect is the considerable increase in surface area-to-volume ratio, which directly facilitates enhanced passive diffusion and cellular uptake (endocytosis) of the lipophilic essential oil components (Limonene, Bergamol) across cell membranes. This is the physical foundation for all observed increases in efficacy. The optimized SNES demonstrated a high negative zeta potential and particle sizes below 150 nm, which guaranteed both thermodynamic and electrostatic stability.”
The Brookhaven Instruments NanoBrook Omni light scattering instrument was used in this study to determine the droplet size, polydispersity index and zeta potential of the nanoemulsions, continuing its legacy of being on the forefront of scientific advancement, especially in the areas of food science, nutraceutical formulation and drug development.
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