Stimuli-responsive materials prepared from carboxymethyl chitosan and poly(γ-glutamic acid) for protein delivery

Shu-Huei Yu; Shao-Jung Wu; Deh-Wei Tang; Yi-Cheng Ho; Fwu-Long Mi; Tzu-Hung Kuo; Hsing-Wen Sung

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2011.08.015

Stimuli-responsive materials prepared from carboxymethyl chitosan and poly(γ-glutamic acid) for protein delivery

Carbohydr Polym. 2012 Jan 4;87(1):531-536. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2011.08.015. Epub 2011 Aug 11.

Authors

Shu-Huei Yu¹, Shao-Jung Wu², Deh-Wei Tang³, Yi-Cheng Ho³, Fwu-Long Mi⁴, Tzu-Hung Kuo³, Hsing-Wen Sung⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Polymer Materials, Vanung University, Chung-Li, Taiwan, ROC.
² Department of Chemical Engineering, MingChi University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
³ Department of Biotechnology, Vanung University, Chung-Li, Taiwan, ROC.
⁴ Department of Biotechnology, Vanung University, Chung-Li, Taiwan, ROC; Nano Materials R&D Center, Vanung University, Chung-Li, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address: flmi530326@vnu.edu.tw.
⁵ Department of Chemical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address: hwsung@che.nthu.edu.tw.

PMID: 34663000
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2011.08.015

Abstract

The development of stimuli-responsive materials in response to the molecules involved in biological processes has gained increased attentions. In this work, carboxymethyl chitosan (CM-chitosan) and poly(γ-glutamic acid) (pGlu) were reacted with a naturally occurring compound, genipin, leading to the formation of genipin-crosslinked CM-chitosan/pGlu conjugates with fluorescence emissions. The genipin-conjugated polymers were sensitive to the oxidation product of glucose, gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). Fluorescence emissions of the polymers were quenched by gluconic acid and H₂O₂. An increase in the hydrodynamic diameter together with the quenching of fluorescence indicated that the genipin-conjugated polymers were self-aggregated into nanoparticles, in response to the stimulus of gluconic acid (but not for H₂O₂). Bovine serum albumin (BSA) could be loaded in the self-aggregated nanoparticles, and the incorporated BSA slowly released from the nanoparticles under hyper-gluconic acid conditions. This material is hence proposed as a stimuli-responsive material for optical sensing and protein delivery purposes.

Keywords: Chitosan; Genipin; Protein delivery; Stimuli-responsive.