a Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Food Nutrition and Human Health , College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University, Key Laboratory of Functional Dairy, Ministry of Education , Beijing , P. R. China.
b Beijing Laboratory for Food Quality and Safety , Beijing , P. R. China.
Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2017 Nov 22;57(17):3673-3683. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2016.1149690.
Ferritin is a class of naturally occurring iron storage proteins, which is distributed widely in animal, plant, and bacteria. It usually consists of 24 subunits that form a hollow protein shell with high symmetry. One holoferritin molecule can store up to 4500 iron atom within its inner cavity, and it becomes apoferritin upon removal of iron from the cavity. Recently, scientists have subverted these nature functions and used reversibly self-assembled property of apoferritin cage controlled by pH for the encapsulation and delivery of bioactive nutrients or anticancer drug. In all these cases, the ferritin cages shield their cargo from the influence of external conditions and provide a controlled microenvironment. More importantly, upon encapsulation, ferritin shell greatly improved the water solubility, thermal stability, photostability, and cellular uptake activity of these small bioactive compounds. This review aims to highlight recent advances in applications of ferritin cage as a novel vehicle in the field of food science and nutrition. Future outlooks are highlighted with the aim to suggest a research line to follow for further studies.
铁蛋白是一类天然存在的铁储存蛋白，广泛分布于动物、植物和细菌中。它通常由 24 个亚基组成，形成具有高度对称性的中空蛋白壳。一个完整的铁蛋白分子可以在其内腔中储存多达 4500 个铁原子，当铁从内腔中去除时，它变成脱铁铁蛋白。最近，科学家颠覆了这些自然功能，利用 pH 控制的脱铁铁蛋白笼的可逆自组装特性，用于封装和输送生物活性营养素或抗癌药物。在所有这些情况下，铁蛋白笼屏蔽其货物免受外部条件的影响，并提供一个可控的微环境。更重要的是，封装后，铁蛋白壳大大提高了这些小生物活性化合物的水溶性、热稳定性、光稳定性和细胞摄取活性。本综述旨在强调铁蛋白笼作为一种新型载体在食品科学和营养领域的应用的最新进展。突出了未来的展望，旨在为进一步研究提出一条可供遵循的研究路线。
