Chitosan Sponges for Efficient Accumulation and Controlled Release of C-Phycocyanin

Yana E Sergeeva; Anastasia A Zakharevich; Daniil V Sukhinov; Alexandra I Koshkalda; Mariya V Kryukova; Sergey N Malakhov; Christina G Antipova; Olga I Klein; Pavel M Gotovtsev; Timofei E Grigoriev

doi:10.3390/biotech12030055

Chitosan Sponges for Efficient Accumulation and Controlled Release of C-Phycocyanin

BioTech (Basel). 2023 Aug 17;12(3):55. doi: 10.3390/biotech12030055.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biotechnology and Bioenergy, National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute", 123182 Moscow, Russia.
² Department of NBIC-Technologies, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, National Research University, 141701 Dolgoprudny, Moscow Region, Russia.
³ Department of Nanobiomaterials and Structures, National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute", 123182 Moscow, Russia.
⁴ Faculty of Biotechnology, Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia, 125047 Moscow, Russia.
⁵ Department for Resource Centre, National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute", 123182 Moscow, Russia.
⁶ Research Center of Biotechnology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, A.N. Bach Institute of Biochemistry, 119071 Moscow, Russia.

Abstract

The paper proposed a new porous material for wound healing based on chitosan and C-phycocyanin (C-PC). In this work, C-PC was extracted from the cyanobacteria Arthrospira platensis biomass and purified through ammonium sulfate precipitation. The obtained C-PC with a purity index (PI) of 3.36 ± 0.24 was loaded into a chitosan sponge from aqueous solutions of various concentrations (250, 500, and 1000 mg/L). According to the FTIR study, chitosan did not form new bonds with C-PC, but acted as a carrier. The encapsulation efficiency value exceeded 90%, and the maximum loading capacity was 172.67 ± 0.47 mg/g. The release of C-PC from the polymer matrix into the saline medium was estimated, and it was found 50% of C-PC was released in the first hour and the maximum concentration was reached in 5-7 h after the sponge immersion. The PI of the released C-PC was 3.79 and 4.43 depending on the concentration of the initial solution.

Keywords: Arthrospira platensis; C-phycocyanin; antioxidant activity; chitosan; sponges.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the NRC “Kurchatov Institute”, Thematic Plan 5p.3.4, titled, “Development of Platform Technologies Based on Phototrophic Microorganisms for Intensive CO₂ Utilization and Production of Biofuels and Other Useful Products”.