Abstract
The encapsulation of bio-active ingredients, such as proteins, in solidified particles via emulsion templating frequently induces an irreversible loss of bioactivity, because of the use of non-aqueous solvents and unfavorable conditions during the solidification process. Herein, we introduce an "osmo-solidification" approach that solidifies all-aqueous emulsion droplets by the osmotic extraction of water for encapsulating proteins and demonstrate the superior preservation of their activity. The osmo-solidification approach combines the solidification of droplets to particles and protein encapsulation in one step. Proteins encapsulated preserve their activity after osmo-solidification better than conventional solidification approaches. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the osmo-solidification of all-aqueous emulsion is introduced in the fabrication of emulsion-based particles and that the stability of encapsulated proteins can be enhanced to an unprecedentedly high level. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1213-1218 |
| Journal | Journal of Materials Chemistry B |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 21 Feb 2016 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publication details (e.g. title, author(s), publication statuses and dates) are captured on an “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE” basis at the time of record harvesting from the data source. Suggestions for further amendments or supplementary information can be sent to [email protected].Funding
We acknowledge support from BASF SE. This research was partially supported by the Early Career Scheme (No. HKU 707712P) and the General Research Fund (No. HKU 719813E, 17304514 and 17306315) from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, the General Program (No. 21476189/B060201), Young Scholar's Program (No. NSFC51206138/E0605) and the Major Research plan (No. 91434202) from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, as well as the Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research (No. 201211159090, 201311159105) from the University of Hong Kong. We thank Prof. Liqiu Wang for the use of the ultraviolet spectrophotometer.