Wang Xiaoqing, Shi Zhiming, Zhao Qinglong, Yun Yu
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia University of Technology, Hohhot 010051, China.
College of Textile and Light Industry, Inner Mongolia University of Technology, Hohhot 010080, China.
Materials (Basel). 2021 Jan 14;14(2):379. doi: 10.3390/ma14020379.
Keratin is widely recognized as a high-quality renewable protein resource for biomedical applications. A large amount of rabbit hair waste is produced in textile industries, because it has high medullary layer content, but poor spinnability. Therefore, it is of great significance to extract keratin from waste rabbit hair for recycling. In this research, an ultrasonic-assisted reducing agent-based extraction method was developed and applied to extract keratin from rabbit hair. The results showed that the ultrasonic treatment had a certain destructive effect on the structure of the fiber, and when combined with reducing agent, it could effectively promote the dissolution of rabbit hair, and extract keratin with high molecular weight between 31 and 94 kDa. The structure and properties of keratin were studied. Compared to the rabbit hair, the cystine content of keratin was significantly reduced, and the secondary structure changed from α-helix to β-sheet. The keratin products show excellent biocompatibility and antioxidant capacity. In addition, large keratin particles can be formed by assembly with a balance between intermolecular hydrophobic attraction as the concentration of urea in keratin solution decreased during dialysis.
角蛋白被广泛认为是一种用于生物医学应用的优质可再生蛋白质资源。纺织工业中会产生大量兔毛废料，因为其髓层含量高，但可纺性差。因此，从废弃兔毛中提取角蛋白进行回收利用具有重要意义。在本研究中，开发了一种基于超声辅助还原剂的提取方法，并将其应用于从兔毛中提取角蛋白。结果表明，超声处理对纤维结构有一定的破坏作用，与还原剂结合时，能有效促进兔毛溶解，并提取出分子量在31至94 kDa之间的高分子量角蛋白。对角蛋白的结构和性能进行了研究。与兔毛相比，角蛋白的胱氨酸含量显著降低，二级结构从α-螺旋转变为β-折叠。角蛋白产品表现出优异的生物相容性和抗氧化能力。此外，随着透析过程中角蛋白溶液中尿素浓度的降低，通过分子间疏水吸引力的平衡组装可形成大的角蛋白颗粒。
