Gelli Rita, Tonelli Monica, Ridi Francesca, Bonini Massimo, Kwaambwa Habauka M, Rennie Adrian R, Baglioni Piero
Department of Chemistry "Ugo Schiff" and CSGI, University of Florence, via della Lastruccia 3, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy.
Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences, Namibia University of Science and Technology, Private Bag 13388, 13 Jackson Kaujeua Street, Windhoek, Namibia.
J Colloid Interface Sci. 2021 May;589:367-377. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2021.01.008. Epub 2021 Jan 6.
Endogenous Amorphous Magnesium-Calcium Phosphates (AMCPs) form in the human body and, besides their biomedical implications, the development of effective stabilization strategies is an open challenge. An interesting approach consists of stabilizing amorphous phosphates with macromolecules that have beneficial effects from a nutritional/medical point of view, for a potential application of the hybrid particles in nutraceutics or drug delivery.
We investigated the effect of proteins extracted from Moringa oleifera seeds (MO) on the features of synthetic analogs of AMCPs and on their crystallization pathway. The stability of the amorphous phase was studied using infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. To unravel the effect of the protein on the nano-scale structure of the inorganic particles, we also studied how MO affects the features of the amorphous phase using thermal analysis, small angle X-ray scattering and confocal Raman microscopy.
We observed that MO markedly delays the transition from amorphous to crystalline phosphate in a concentration-dependent fashion. Interestingly, MO not only enhances the lifetime of the amorphous phase, but also influences the type and amount of crystalline material formed. The results are relevant from both a fundamental and an applied perspective, paving the way for the use of these hybrids in the field of nutraceutics and drug delivery.
内源性无定形磷酸镁钙（AMCPs）在人体中形成，除了其生物医学意义外，开发有效的稳定策略是一个悬而未决的挑战。一种有趣的方法是用从营养/医学角度具有有益作用的大分子来稳定无定形磷酸盐，以便将这种混合颗粒潜在应用于营养保健品或药物递送。
我们研究了从辣木籽（MO）中提取的蛋白质对AMCPs合成类似物的特性及其结晶途径的影响。使用红外光谱和X射线衍射研究了无定形相的稳定性。为了阐明蛋白质对无机颗粒纳米级结构的影响，我们还使用热分析、小角X射线散射和共聚焦拉曼显微镜研究了MO如何影响无定形相的特性。
我们观察到MO以浓度依赖的方式显著延迟了从无定形磷酸盐向结晶磷酸盐的转变。有趣的是，MO不仅延长了无定形相的寿命，还影响了形成的晶体材料的类型和数量。从基础和应用的角度来看，这些结果都具有重要意义，为这些混合物在营养保健品和药物递送领域的应用铺平了道路。
