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Tuning the mechanical and physicochemical properties of cross‐linked protein films
Author(s) -
Parveen Sultana,
Chaudhury Susmitnarayan,
Dasgupta Swagata
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
biopolymers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.556
H-Index - 125
eISSN - 1097-0282
pISSN - 0006-3525
DOI - 10.1002/bip.23321
Subject(s) - glutaraldehyde , thermogravimetric analysis , chemistry , chemical engineering , nanoindentation , plasticizer , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , biodegradation , solubility , organic chemistry , composite material , materials science , engineering
Films derived from natural sources such as proteins provide an advantage over synthetic films due to their noncytotoxicity, biodegradability, and vast functionality. A new protein source gained from the cataractous eye protein isolate (CEPI) obtained after surgery has been investigated for this purpose. Glycerol has been employed as the plasticizer and glutaraldehyde (GD) as a cross‐linker. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was employed to characterize the films. Nanoindentation and thermogravimetric analyses reveal improved mechanical and thermal properties of the cross‐linked films. The films with 20% (w/w) GD exhibited properties such as the highest modulus and low water solubility. It is possible to tune the properties based on the extent of cross‐linking. All the films were completely degraded by the enzyme trypsin. The similarity of these films was checked by using the prepared films as a delivery vehicle for a model compound, ampicillin sodium. The encapsulation efficiency was found to be 74%, and in vitro release studies showed significant amounts of drug release at physiological pH. This study will help us understand how the properties of protein films can be tuned to obtain the desired physicochemical properties. These biodegradable protein films could find use in pharmaceutical industries as delivery carriers.