ARS | Publication request: A NOVEL METHOD FOR MICROENCAPSULATION OF PROTEIN USING HIGH-VOLTAGE ELECTROSTATIC FIELD SYSTEM

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: December 1, 2005
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Protein and peptide-based bio-pharmaceuticals and nutraceutical have been developed in recent years. However, since such products, unlike traditional small-molecule drugs, may not be administered orally, injection or infusion is normally required. There is a need of encapsulation of such proteins or peptide in biodegradable polymeric materials to improve current delivery methods. Conventional microencapsulation methods, such as spray-drying, phase separation, and emulsion techniques, have many disadvantages including thermal and chemical degradation of products, problems of a large amount of solvent used and its disposal, solvent residues, and broad particle size distribution. This research was to develop a new method of high-voltage electrostatic field for preparing microcapsules of protein. The bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used as the core material while sodium alginate (NaAlg) was used as the carrier. Influences of the ratio of core to carrier and pH on the ratio of retention and loading BSA were studied. The sizes of microcapsules ranging from 5 to 95 µm in diameter were obtained and eighty percent of the particles distributed between 10 and 60µm. Under the optimum microencapsulation conditions, voltage of 3.0~4.0kV'distance of 2.5 cm, NaAlg concentration of 2%, and flow rate of 8 ml/h. Chitosan (CS) with different concentrations was used for prolonging release time of BSA. The obtained maximum release time of BSA was 80 hours. It was concluded that a high-voltage electrostatic field is an effective method for preparing the microcapsules of protein and peptide-based pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals.