Liu Zhe, Ma Xiaojie, Ge Yanzheng, Hei Xue, Zhang Xinyu, Hu Hui, Zhu Jinjin, Adhari Benu, Wang Qiang, Shi Aimin
Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Agro-Products Processing, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural, Beijing 100193, China.
Food Laboratory of Zhongyuan, Luohe 462300, China.
Foods. 2024 May 31;13(11):1730. doi: 10.3390/foods13111730.
Microfluidic technology, as a continuous and mass preparation method of nanoparticles, has attracted much attention in recent years. In this study, zein nanoparticles (ZNPs) were continuously fabricated in a highly controlled manner by combining a microfluidics platform with the antisolvent method. The impact of ethanol content (60~95%, /) and flow rates of inner and outer phases in the microfluidics platform on particle properties were examined. Among all ZNPS, 90%-ZNPs have the highest solubility (32.83%) and the lowest hydrophobicity (90.43), which is the reverse point of the hydrophobicity of ZNPs. Moreover, when the inner phase flow rate was 1.5 mL/h, the particle size decreased significantly from 182.81 nm to 133.13 nm as the outer phase flow rate increased from 10 mL/h to 50 mL/h. The results revealed that ethanol content had significant impacts on hydrophilic-hydrophobic properties of ZNPs. The flow rates of ethanol-water solutions and deionized water (solvent and antisolvent) in the microfluidics platform significantly affected the particle size of ZNPs. These findings demonstrated that the combined application of a microfluidics platform and an antisolvent method could be an effective pathway for precisely controlling the fabrication process of protein nanoparticles and modulating their physicochemical properties.
微流控技术作为一种连续且大规模制备纳米颗粒的方法，近年来备受关注。在本研究中，通过将微流控平台与反溶剂法相结合，以高度可控的方式连续制备了玉米醇溶蛋白纳米颗粒（ZNPs）。考察了乙醇含量（60~95%，/）以及微流控平台中内相和外相流速对颗粒性质的影响。在所有的ZNPs中，90%-ZNPs具有最高的溶解度（32.83%）和最低的疏水性（90.43），这是ZNPs疏水性的转折点。此外，当内相流速为1.5 mL/h时，随着外相流速从10 mL/h增加到50 mL/h，粒径从182.81 nm显著减小至133.13 nm。结果表明，乙醇含量对ZNPs的亲水-疏水性质有显著影响。微流控平台中乙醇-水溶液和去离子水（溶剂和反溶剂）的流速显著影响ZNPs的粒径。这些发现表明，微流控平台与反溶剂法的联合应用可能是精确控制蛋白质纳米颗粒制备过程并调节其理化性质的有效途径。
