Tuning of Molecular Interactions between Zein and Tannic Acid to Modify Sunflower Sporopollenin Exine Capsules: Enhanced Stability and Targeted Delivery of Bioactive Macromolecules

• Published in: ACS applied bio materials Vol. 4; no. 3; pp. 2686 - 2695
• Main Authors: Deng, Ziyu, Wang, Shishuai, Pei, Yaqiong, Zhou, Bin, Li, Jing, Hou, Xinyao, Li, Bin, Liang, Hongshan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 15.03.2021
• Subjects: beta-Galactosidase - chemistry; beta-Galactosidase - metabolism; Biocompatible Materials - chemistry; Biocompatible Materials - metabolism; Biopolymers - chemistry; Biopolymers - metabolism; Capsules - chemistry; Capsules - metabolism; Carotenoids - chemistry; Carotenoids - metabolism; Escherichia coli - enzymology; Hydrogen Bonding; Macromolecular Substances - chemistry; Macromolecular Substances - metabolism; Materials Testing; Particle Size; Tannins - chemistry; Tannins - metabolism; Zein - chemistry; Zein - metabolism; zein; interaction; storage stability; controlled release; tannic acid; sunflower sporopollenin exine capsules
• ISSN: 2576-6422; 2576-6422
• DOI: 10.1021/acsabm.0c01623

There are multiple obstacles for the storage and digestion of orally administered bioactive macromolecules. This study developed a low-cost and sustained-release delivery system (sporopollenin exine capsules with zein/tannic acid modification) of proteins with excellent storage stability, and at the same time provided insights into the sustained-release mechanism through exploring the interaction between zein and tannic acid (TA). β-Galactosidase (β-Gal) was utilized as a model protein and loaded into sporopollenin exine capsules (SECs), which were then coated with the zein/TA system. Under the optimized zein/TA conditions, the zein/TA system showed better performance than the zein alone system in the sustained release of β-Gal, with the residual activity of about 70.26% after 24 h of simulated digestion. Evaluation of the storage stability demonstrated a β-Gal residual activity of nearly 90% for 28 days at 25 °C. Additionally, FTIR analysis demonstrated that the stability of the zein/TA system depends on both hydrogen bonding and certain covalent bonding through the Schiff-base reaction, and the sustained release is regulated by the bonding strength.