Giovannelli Lorella, Milanesi Andrea, Ugazio Elena, Fracchia Letizia, Segale Lorena
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Università del Piemonte Orientale, 28100 Novara, Italy.
Department of Drug Science and Technology, Università di Torino, 10125 Torino, Italy.
Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2021 Mar 15;14(3):262. doi: 10.3390/ph14030262.
Sericin is a protein extracted from silk cocoons. Over the last decade, this wastewater product of the textile industry has shown many interesting biological properties. This protein is widely used in the cosmetic and biomedical fields. In this study, sericin has been obtained via a High-Temperature High-Pressure degumming process, and was dried using the freeze-drying (fd) and spray-drying (sd) techniques. Proteins tend to collapse during drying, hence, sericin has been dried in the presence of two selected carrier agents: methyl-β-cyclodextrin and trehalose. The obtained powders have been analyzed using thermal investigation, microscopy (optical, SEM), and granulometric and spectroscopic analyses. Moreover, the percentage yield of the spray-drying process has been calculated. Both the agents were able to significantly improve the drying process, without altering the physico-chemical properties of the protein. In particular, the co-spray-drying of sericin with methyl-β-cyclodextrin and trehalose gave good process yields and furnished a powder with low moisture content and handling properties that are better than those of the other studied dried products. These characteristics seem to be appropriate and fruitful for the manufacturing of cosmetic raw materials.
丝胶蛋白是一种从蚕茧中提取的蛋白质。在过去十年中，这种纺织工业的废水产物展现出了许多有趣的生物学特性。这种蛋白质广泛应用于化妆品和生物医学领域。在本研究中，丝胶蛋白通过高温高压脱胶工艺获得，并使用冷冻干燥（fd）和喷雾干燥（sd）技术进行干燥。蛋白质在干燥过程中容易塌陷，因此，丝胶蛋白是在两种选定的载体剂——甲基-β-环糊精和海藻糖存在的情况下进行干燥的。所获得的粉末通过热分析、显微镜检查（光学显微镜、扫描电子显微镜）以及粒度分析和光谱分析进行了表征。此外，还计算了喷雾干燥过程的产率。这两种载体剂都能够显著改善干燥过程，同时又不改变蛋白质的物理化学性质。特别是，丝胶蛋白与甲基-β-环糊精和海藻糖的共喷雾干燥获得了良好的产率，并得到了一种水分含量低且处理性能优于其他研究的干燥产品的粉末。这些特性似乎对于化妆品原料的制造是合适且富有成效的。
