Recent Advances in Food-Packing, Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Applications of Zein and Zein-Based Materials
04 Dec 2014-International Journal of Molecular Sciences (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI))-Vol. 15, Iss: 12, pp 22438-22470
TL;DR: The biodegradability and biocompatibility of zein and other inherent properties associated with zein’s structure allow a myriad of applications of such materials with great potential in the near future.
Abstract: Zein is a biodegradable and biocompatible material extracted from renewable resources; it comprises almost 80% of the whole protein content in corn. This review highlights and describes some zein and zein-based materials, focusing on biomedical applications. It was demonstrated in this review that the biodegradation and biocompatibility of zein are key parameters for its uses in the food-packing, biomedical and pharmaceutical fields. Furthermore, it was pointed out that the presence of hydrophilic-hydrophobic groups in zein chains is a very important aspect for obtaining material with different hydrophobicities by mixing with other moieties (polymeric or not), but also for obtaining derivatives with different properties. The physical and chemical characteristics and special structure (at the molecular, nano and micro scales) make zein molecules inherently superior to many other polymers from natural sources and synthetic ones. The film-forming property of zein and zein-based materials is important for several applications. The good electrospinnability of zein is important for producing zein and zein-based nanofibers for applications in tissue engineering and drug delivery. The use of zein’s hydrolysate peptides for reducing blood pressure is another important issue related to the application of derivatives of zein in the biomedical field. It is pointed out that the biodegradability and biocompatibility of zein and other inherent properties associated with zein’s structure allow a myriad of applications of such materials with great potential in the near future.
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TL;DR: In this article, a review on applications of zein/zein-based nano-materials in various branches of food (except food packaging) and nutrition sectors is made.
Abstract: Background Zein, a byproduct of corn with renewable resources, unique hydrophobic/hydrophilic character, film/fiber forming and antioxidant properties, is a promising biopolymer for food and nutrition applications. The advantages in properties and efficiencies of nano materials over bulk counterparts are the basis of their unique nature in novel technologies. These advantages also expand their possible applications. Scope and approach An effort has been made to review on applications of zein/zein-based nano-materials in various branches of food (except food packaging) and nutrition sectors. The effects of various parameters affecting preparations and properties of the nano-materials are also discussed. Nano-encapsulation of foods and nutrients is the major section of this study. Key findings and conclusions (i) the average size of zein nanoparticles reported to be 50–200 nm; (ii) the functions of zein nanomaterials were multiples: a carrier of delivery (food, beverage, and nutrient) systems; a shell or a core of encapsulated systems; or a food ingredient; (iii) zein-based nano-materials have been used for encapsulation of food and nutrient components including lipids; essential oils; fat soluble vitamins; food colorants; flavors; and natural anti-oxidants; (iv) the bioavailability of food and nutrient components such as folic acid, vitamin D3, curcumin, beta-carotene, and resveratrol was improved by employing the zein-nanoparticles in comparison with the bulk counterparts; and (v) bioactive substances with potential applications for food and nutrition sectors were stabilized by zein/zein-based nano-materials.
214 citations
TL;DR: Electrospun packaging materials could be engineered as easy-to-open, resealable, active, as well as intelligent with the incorporation of sensory elements while offering desired barrier properties against oxygen and water vapor.
169 citations
TL;DR: The current landscape of zein-based nano/ micro-carrier systems, with particular emphasis on nano/microparticles, nano/microcapsules and their design, fabrication, assembly mechanisms and biomedical applications especially for controlled drug delivery are reviewed.
102 citations
Cites background from "Recent Advances in Food-Packing, Ph..."
...Over the past few decades, zein has been investigated as various carriers, such as nano/microparticles, nano/microcapsules, films, nanofibers, hydrogel and implants, for delivery of bioactive agents (Corradini et al., 2014; Paliwal and Palakurthi, 2014; Zhang et al., 2015a; Zhang et al., 2015b)....
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TL;DR: The present review aims to summarize the current state-of-the-art technology on LDDS in periodontal therapy to ensure that the practitioners are able to choose LDD agents which are custom made for a specific clinical condition.
100 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a biocompatible, biodegradable macromolecule was employed for nanoencapsulation of green tea catechins by electrospraying technique.
99 citations
References
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"Recent Advances in Food-Packing, Ph..." refers methods in this paper
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TL;DR: A review of the present status of the chemistry, properties, uses and methods of manufacturing zein can be found in this article, where the characteristics of zein are discussed in terms of its composition, structure, solubility in various solvents and gelation properties.
1,225 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a hydrophobic nutrient, α-tocopherol (TOC), was successfully encapsulated into zein/Chitosan complex, and the fabrication parameters, including zein concentration, zein weight ratio, and TOC loading percentage, were systematically investigated.
538 citations
"Recent Advances in Food-Packing, Ph..." refers background or methods in this paper
...In this case, zein nanoparticles improved the stability of α-tocopherol (TOC), and the chitosan (CS) coating did not affect the encapsulation efficiency, but greatly improved the controlled release properties of TOC in PBS buffer solution, indicating that nanoparticles of zein coated with CS can be developed as a novel TOC supplementation or treatment [106]....
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...[106] also obtained zein nanoparticles complexed with chitosan containing α-tocopherol (zein/CS/TOC), as shown in Figure 4....
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TL;DR: In this article, a review of fabrication of biocompatible nanoparticles consisting of biopolymers such as protein (silk, collagen, gelatin, β-casein, zein and albumin), protein-mimicked polypeptides and polysaccharides (chitosan, alginate, pullulan, starch and heparin).
Abstract: There has been a great interest in application of nanoparticles as biomaterials for delivery of therapeutic molecules such as drugs and genes, and for tissue engineering. In particular, biopolymers are suitable materials as nanoparticles for clinical application due to their versatile traits, including biocompatibility, biodegradability and low immunogenicity. Biopolymers are polymers that are produced from living organisms, which are classified in three groups: polysaccharides, proteins and nucleic acids. It is important to control particle size, charge, morphology of surface and release rate of loaded molecules to use biopolymer-based nanoparticles as drug/gene delivery carriers. To obtain a nano-carrier for therapeutic purposes, a variety of materials and preparation process has been attempted. This review focuses on fabrication of biocompatible nanoparticles consisting of biopolymers such as protein (silk, collagen, gelatin, β-casein, zein and albumin), protein-mimicked polypeptides and polysaccharides (chitosan, alginate, pullulan, starch and heparin). The effects of the nature of the materials and the fabrication process on the characteristics of the nanoparticles are described. In addition, their application as delivery carriers of therapeutic drugs and genes and biomaterials for tissue engineering are also reviewed.
526 citations
TL;DR: The polar, hydrophobic, and turn characteristics of the zein residues, as well as the homologous repeat units in their primary sequences, suggested a structure with nine adjacent, topologically antiparallel helices clustered within a distorted cylinder.
462 citations
"Recent Advances in Food-Packing, Ph..." refers background in this paper
...Structural models proposed for α-zein consider that this protein contains 10 successive helical segments arranged in an anti-parallel manner [30,31]....
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