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Biodegradable Films for Food Packaging
Published in Sanjay Mavinkere Rangappa, Parameswaranpillai Jyotishkumar, Senthil Muthu Kumar Thiagamani, Senthilkumar Krishnasamy, Suchart Siengchin, Food Packaging, 2020
One of the proteins used in the production of biodegradable polymers is zein protein. Zein is one of the corn proteins. Commercial zein is yellow and contains less than 20% non-protein solids and small amounts of oil. Zein protein is insoluble in water but soluble in water in the presence of high concentrations of urea or alkali, anionic detergents such as SDS* and enzymatic modifications. In aqueous ethanol, polar solvents such as propylene glycol and organic acids such as acetic acid are soluble. Zein has an ability to form good film and has thermoplastic properties (it flows through heat and pressure). For the formation of the film by zein and other spherical proteins, the proteins must first be denatured by solvent, heat, acid, or base to open their structure, and then chain-to-chain interactions must occur. In recent years, significant research has been done in the field of producing zein films for packaging (Guiyun Chen et al., 2019; Mushtaq et al., 2018; L. Zhang et al., 2019).
Protein-Based Nanoparticle Materials for Medical Applications
Published in Shaker A. Mousa, Raj Bawa, Gerald F. Audette, The Road from Nanomedicine to Precision Medicine, 2020
Kelsey DeFrates, Theodore Markiewicz, Pamela Gallo, Aaron Rack, Aubrie Weyhmiller, Brandon Jarmusik, Xiao Hu
Zein is low-molecular-weight protein (20 kDa), found within the cytoplasm of corn cell endosperm and is insoluble in water except in the presence of alcohol, urea, alkali, and anionic detergents [71]. The protein has an IEP of pH 6.2 and is a mixture of two different peptides: α zein and β zein [72]. α zein is the most widely used variety due to its abundance [73, 74]. Zein has a helical wheel shaped structure with nine homologous units arranged in a non-parallel way with hydrogen bonds stabilizing it. This helical shape gives zein a globular structure similar to insulin and ribonuclease [73]. Zein can be extracted using primary, secondary, and ternary solvents. Primary solvents consist of a compound that dissolves zein in a concentration greater than 10%. Secondary solvents are organic compounds. Ternary solvents are a combination of solvent, water, and alcohol. Zein is commonly used in fibers, adhesives, plastics, ink, chewing gum, and as a preservative coating for some food and pharmaceuticals [74].
Protein-Based Nanoparticle Materials for Medical Applications
Published in Shaker A. Mousa, Raj Bawa, Gerald F. Audette, The Road from Nanomedicine to Precision Medicine, 2019
Kelsey DeFrates, Theodore Markiewicz, Pamela Gallo, Aaron Rack, Aubrie Weyhmiller, Brandon Jarmusik, Xiao Hu
Zein is low-molecular-weight protein (20 kDa), found within the cytoplasm of corn cell endosperm and is insoluble in water except in the presence of alcohol, urea, alkali, and anionic detergents [71]. The protein has an IEP of pH 6.2 and is a mixture of two different peptides: α zein and β zein [72]. α zein is the most widely used variety due to its abundance [73, 74]. Zein has a helical wheel shaped structure with nine homologous units arranged in a non-parallel way with hydrogen bonds stabilizing it. This helical shape gives zein a globular structure similar to insulin and ribonuclease [73]. Zein can be extracted using primary, secondary, and ternary solvents. Primary solvents consist of a compound that dissolves zein in a concentration greater than 10%. Secondary solvents are organic compounds. Ternary solvents are a combination of solvent, water, and alcohol. Zein is commonly used in fibers, adhesives, plastics, ink, chewing gum, and as a preservative coating for some food and pharmaceuticals [74].
Recent advances of polymer based nanosystems in cancer management
Published in Journal of Biomaterials Science, Polymer Edition, 2023
Chetan Janrao, Shivani Khopade, Akshay Bavaskar, Shyam Sudhakar Gomte, Tejas Girish Agnihotri, Aakanchha Jain
Zein is a natural polymer that is derived from corn endosperm mainly found in maize. The isoleucine, valine, phenylalanine, proline, and leucine are only a few of the nonpolar amino acids found in zein, which make up more than 50% of proteins. It contains a high amount of nonpolar amino acids that make them water-insoluble. It is soluble in aqueous alcohol, alkali solutions having a pH of more than 11, and anionic detergents [61]. Zein’s solubility in binary solvent mixtures makes it possible to produce colloidal particles through the techniques such as phase separation, liquid-liquid dispersion, anti-solvent precipitation, and coacervation [62]. In one of the studies, doxorubicin (DOX) loaded zein nanoparticles killed cancer cells (HeLa cells) more effectively than free DOX at low DOX concentrations [63]. In another study, DOX encapsulated zein nanoparticles, released DOX over time in response to pH. Zein-DOX nanoparticles had more toxicity and a stronger antiproliferative effect than free doxorubicin when investigated against cervical cancer HeLa cells [64].
Electrospinning of gelatin nanofibers containing sesamol nanoparticles
Published in The Journal of The Textile Institute, 2023
Shiqing Li, Wenhui Shi, Xiaoyan Wang, Shujing Li, Xiaojing Pei, Yifan He
Zein is considered to be the natural and safe ingredient by the Food and Drug Administration. It has been used as an ideal encapsulation material for active substances by combining with polar solvents to form nanoparticles (Wan et al., 2017). The hollow zein nanoparticles have more surface area as well as higher surface area. In particular, sodium carbonate solution is used as the template, and zein is added, and then dispersed in water. After the sodium carbonate core diffuses, the nanoparticles form hollow cavities. Compared with other nanoparticles, it has lower density and better slow release performance (Wang et al., 2016). Chitosan is also beneficial to improve the stability of the nanosystem (Wang et al., 2022), which can be attributed to the fact that the positively charged chitosan can make the negatively charged ion surface form a cationic shell through electrostatic interaction (Luo et al., 2015; Silva et al., 2019). Hollow zein-chitosan nanoparticles (HZ-CS) are used as the carrier to encapsulate the active substances. The nanoparticles had higher encapsulation efficiency and sutained release (Joye et al., 2015).
Preparation and characterization of dextran-zein-curcumin nanoconjugate for enhancement of curcumin bioactivity
Published in Journal of Biomaterials Science, Polymer Edition, 2023
N. T. S. Albogamy, Samia F. Aboushoushah, F. Aljoud, H. Organji, Nihal S. Elbialy
Zein, a protein that is soluble in alcohol and is derived from corn, has a molecular weight between 22 and 27 kDa [12]. It has gained a lot of attention in order to develop methods for delivering drugs, owing to its unique properties [10]. In addition, zein was approved by US-FDA as a safe biomaterial for human applications [13,15]. However, zein NPs are susceptible to environmental conditions such as temperature, pH, and salt, which renders them unstable in solution and may lead to precipitation or aggregation. These shortcomings have been solved gradually by the conjugation of protein and polysaccharide which is considered as the most effective technique for stabilizing zein NPs.