Process optimization, antioxidant, antibacterial, and drug adjuvant properties of bioactive keratin microparticles derived from porcupine (Hystrix indica) quills

Zahid Majeed; Hoorulain Farhat; Basharat Ahmad; Atia Iqbal; Abu Ul Hassan Faiz; Mater H Mahnashi; Ali O Alqarni; Omaish Alqahtani; Amer Al Ali; Aiman M Momenah

doi:10.7717/peerj.15653

Process optimization, antioxidant, antibacterial, and drug adjuvant properties of bioactive keratin microparticles derived from porcupine (Hystrix indica) quills

PeerJ. 2023 Aug 18:11:e15653. doi: 10.7717/peerj.15653. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, The University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Muzaffarabad, Pakistan.
² Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, The University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Muzaffarabad, Pakistan.
³ Department of Zoology, The University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Muzaffarabad, Pakistan.
⁴ Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, The Women University, Multan, Pakistan.
⁵ Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Women University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Bagh, Pakistan.
⁶ Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Najran University, Najran, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, Najran University, Najran, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, University of Bisha, Al Nakhil Bisha, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

A structural protein called keratin is often employed in the medical industry to create medication carriers. Process improvement, antioxidant, antibacterial, and adjuvant drug studies of synthetic bioactive keratin microparticles made from lipids and keratin derived from porcupine (Hystrix indica) quills are the main objectives of this study. After coating the keratin microparticles with lipids which were obtained from the same porcupine quills, the bioactive keratin microparticles were produced. The response surface technique was applied to optimize the conditions for extraction of the keratin protein and sizing of the keratin microparticles. An infrared spectroscopy was used to analyze the chemical shifts in compositions of keratin microparticles while the optical microscopy was used to measure the size of the keratin microparticles. The results of this work revealed that a yield 27.36 to 42.25% of the keratin protein could be obtained from porcupine quills. The keratin microparticles were sized between 60.65 and 118.87 µm. Through response surface optimization, mercaptoethanol and urea were shown to be the main variables which positively affected the yield and the size of the keratin protein. The lipid stacking on the keratin microparticles' surface was confirmed by infrared spectroscopy. The 2,2'-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonate) assay confirmed the keratin microparticle's antioxidant activity of 29.83%. Compared to lipid alone, the antibacterial properties of the keratin microparticles against Escherichia coli-a gram-negative-and Staphylococcus aureus-a gram-positive-bacteria enhanced by up to 55% following the coating of the microparticles with the lipids. The pharmacological action against these bacterial species was further improved by the lipid-loaded erythromycin that was carried on the surface of keratin microparticles. This work has demonstrated the design and uses of the keratin microparticles obtained from porcupine quills for clinical applications.

Keywords: Adjuvant; Antibacterial; Antioxidant; Keratin microparticles; Lipids; Porcupine.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adjuvants, Pharmaceutic
Animals
Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology
Antioxidants / pharmacology
Escherichia coli
Keratins*
Lipids
Porcupines*

Substances

Keratins
Antioxidants
Adjuvants, Pharmaceutic
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Lipids

Grants and funding

The authors received funding from the Deanship of Scientific Research at Najran University under the Research Groups Funding program grant code (NU/RG/MRC/12/3). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.