Author(s):
Martins, Joana ; Santos, Susana Fernandes dos ; Bourbon, Ana Isabel Juncá Sottomayor Lisboa ; Pinheiro, Ana C. ; González-Fernández, África ; Pastrana, Lorenzo M. ; Cerqueira, Miguel A. ; Vicente, A. A.
Date: 2016
Persistent ID: https://hdl.handle.net/1822/42972
Origin: RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho
Project/scholarship:
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/SFRH/SFRH%2FBPD%2F89992%2F2012/PT;
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/SFRH/SFRH%2FBD%2F73178%2F2010/PT;
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/5876/147337/PT;
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/5876-PPCDTI/126270/PT
;
Subject(s): Biopolymer; Whey protein; Bovine lactoferrin; Nanotechnology; Controlled release; Science & Technology
Description
This study aims at developing and characterizing bovine lactoferrin (bLf) nanoparticles as an iron carrier. bLf nanoparticles were characterized in terms of size, polydispersity index (PdI), electric charge (-potential), morphology, structure and stability over time. Subsequently, iron release experiments were performed at different pH values (2.0 and 7.0) at 37 °C, in order to understand the release mechanism. bLf (0.2%, w/v) nanoparticles were successfully produced by thermal gelation (75 °C for 20 min). bLf nanoparticles with 35 mM FeCl3 showed an iron binding efficiency value of approximately 20%. The nanoparticles were stable (i.e. no significant variation of size and PdI of the nanoparticles) for 76 days at 4 °C and showed to be stable between 4 and 60 °C and pH 2 and 11. Release experiments at pH 2 showed that iron release could be described by the linear superposition model (explained by Fick and relaxation phenomenon). On the contrary, the release mechanism at pH 7 cannot be described by either Fick or polymer relaxation behaviour. In general, results suggested that bLf nanoparticles could be used as an iron delivery system for future food applications.
Joana T. Martins, Ana I. Bourbon and Ana C. Pinheiro acknowledge the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for their fellowships (SFRH/BPD/89992/2012, SFRH/BD/73178/2010 and SFRH/BPD/101181/2014). This study was supported by FCT under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684). This study was also supported by FCT under the scope of the Project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01- 0124-FEDER-027462). The authors would like to acknowledge Cristina Quintelas and Filomena Costa from CEB, University of Minho for helping with AAS and ICP analysis, respectively. Also, the authors would like to thank Rui Fernandes from IBMC, University of Porto for assistance with TEM analysis
