Depolymerization of Chitosan with a Crude Cellulase Preparation from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Aspergillus Niger</Emphasis>

A crude cellulase preparation from Aspergillus niger was used to depolymerize chitosan. The depolymerization process was followed by measuring the apparent viscocity and the intrinsic viscosity. The optimum conditions for enzymatic hydrolysis were investigated. On the selected optimum conditions (pH 5.0, temperature 50 °C, and an enzyme to substrate ratio of 1:5), chitosan was hydrolyzed for 1, 4, 8, and 24 h, its viscosity-average molecular weights were 3.49 × 10⁴, 1.18 × 10⁴, 5.83 × 10³, and 1.13 × 10³, respectively. Compared with chitosan having viscosity-average molecular weight of 5.18 × 10⁵ before enzymatic hydrolysis, the crude cellulase preparation had rather apparent effect on depolymerization of chitosan. Through the comparison of different origin of cellulases, the prepared cellulase has good ability of enzymatic hydrolysis. The reproducibility and reversibility for enzymatic hydrolysis was appraised. The data are of value for the production of low-molecular weight chitosans and chitooligomers of medical and biotechnological interest.     

过氧化氢在乙酸均相体系中对壳聚糖的降解

为制备分子量较低的可溶于水的壳低聚糖,研究了在乙酸均相体系中过氧化氢氧化降解壳聚糖的过程,采用凝胶渗透色谱法跟踪测定了壳聚糖氧化降解过程中分子量及其分布的变化,探索制备不同分子量壳低聚糖的适宜条件。     

Study of the solid-state hydrolysis of chitosan in presence of HCl

Chemical depolymerization of chitosan was obtained in the solid state by means of gaseous HCl. This new method allowed us to simultaneously form the hydrochloric salt and saturate the hydration water with acid. The depolymerization was carried out by keeping the product at a given temperature for the desired time. The measurements of the molecular weight distributions demonstrated the ability to control the reaction and produce oligomers with chosen dimensions. This solid-state hydrolysis favors the presence of a four-fold distribution that can be related to the original morphology and crystallinity of the initial material. The effects of the hydrolysis on the crystallinity, the crystalline structure, and the supramolecular order of the obtained chitosans were also studied. Finally, the washing of the hydrolyzed products in concentrated alkaline or acidic media allowed us to eliminate the lowest DPs and thus to narrow the molecular weight distribution. In this case, the crystallinity was also increased up to values beyond 70%. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 35: 3181–3191, 1997     

Improved postharvest quality in patagonian squash (Cucurbita moschata) coated with radiation depolymerized chitosan

Different molecular weight chitosans were evaluated on the decay of coated Anquito squashes (Cucurbita moschata) as well as the maintenance of the fruit quality along five storage months. The original chitosan (Mw=391 kDa, 83% DD), was depolymerized by gamma radiation. Apart from chain scission, other chemical changes were not detected by FTIR or UV–vis analyses. The molecular weight characterization of chitosans was done by size exclusion chromatography with dual light scattering and concentration detection (SEC-MALLS-RI). The coating effectiveness was evaluated on the following parameters: fungal decay incidence, weight loss, firmness, total reducing sugar, soluble solid, flesh color, carotene content, pH and titratable acidity. No sign of fungal decay was observed in squashes coated with 122 and 56 kDa chitosans, which were also the most effective treatments in reducing the weight loss. The chitosan with Mw=122 kDa was also the best treatment considering firmness, internal aspect, sugar and carotene content. Then, radiation degraded chitosan was better in C. moschata preservation than the original chitosan.     

低分子量壳聚糖制备与应用研究进展

低分子量壳聚糖因具有特殊的生物活性而日益受到人们的关注。本文概要介绍了近5年来国内外低分子量壳聚糖的研究进展,包括低分子量壳聚糖的制备方法,如酶降解法、酸水解法、氧化降解法、物理法等,以及低分子量壳聚糖在农业、医药、抗菌、化妆品、食品等方面的应用。     

Influence of Degree of Polymerization of Low-Molecular-Weight Chitosan Oligosaccharides on the α-Glucosidase Inhibition

Chitosan oligosaccharide (COS) is a bioactive compound derived from marine by-products. COS consumption has been demonstrated to lower the risk of diabetes. However, there are limited data on the inhibitory effect of low-molecular-weight COSs with different degrees of polymerization (DP) on α-glucosidase. This study investigates the α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of two low-molecular-weight COSs, i.e., S-TU-COS with DP2–4 and L-TU-COS with DP2–5, both of which have different molecular weight distributions. The inhibition constants of the inhibitors binding to free enzymes (K_i) and an enzyme–substrate complex (K_ii) were investigated to elucidate the inhibitory mechanism of COSs with different chain lengths. The kinetic inhibition model of S-TU-COS showed non-completive inhibition results which are close to the uncompetitive inhibition results with K_i and K_ii values of 3.34 mM and 2.94 mM, respectively. In contrast, L-TU-COS showed uncompetitive inhibition with a K_ii value of 5.84 mM. With this behavior, the IC₅₀ values of S-TU-COS and L-TU-COS decreased from 12.54 to 11.84 mM and 20.42 to 17.75 mM, respectively, with an increasing substrate concentration from 0.075 to 0.3 mM. This suggests that S-TU-COS is a more potent inhibitor, and the different DP of COS may cause significantly different inhibition (p < 0.05) on the α-glucosidase activity. This research may provide new insights into the production of a COS with a suitable profile for antidiabetic activity.     

N,N-Dilauryl Chitosan：Synthesis and Surface Pressure-area Isotherm

With sodium dodecyl sulfonate(SDS) as the phase transferring catalyst, N,N-Dilauryl chitosans with a high degree of alkyl group substitution were prepared and characterized by means of FTIR, ^1H NMR and elemental analyses. The results indicate that the average degree of alkyl group substitution on the chitosan increases with decreasing the molecular weight of the chitosan. The fully N,N-dilaurylated chitosan was found to be dissolvable in chloroform. The collapsed pressures of the samples derived from chitosan with 3000,5000 and 10000 dalton are 47.6, 48. 2 and 51.0 mN/m, respectively. The surface area occupied by the monomer unit(glucosamine) of all. those samples is 0:6 nm^2.     

Influence of molecular parameters on the degradation of chitosan by a commercial enzyme

The degradative activities of neutral protease against chitosan samples with different molecular parameters were characterized. The effects of the degree of deacetylation (DD) and molecular weight (MW) of chitosan on its susceptibility to degradation were investigated. The DD and MW of the chitosans were determined using potentiometric titration and viscometry, respectively. The molecular weight distribution of initial and degraded commercial chitosan was investigated by gel permeation chromatography. Initial degradation rates (r) were determined from the plots of viscosity decrease against time of degradation. The time courses of degradation of chitosans with neutral protease were non-linear and the enzymatic hydrolysis was an endo-action. Classical Michaelis-Menten kinetic parameters were measured by analyzing the amount of reducing sugars and Eadie-Hofstee plots established that hydrolysis of chitosan by neutral protease obeyed Michaelis-Menten kinetics. Michaelis-Menten parameters and initial degradation rates were calculated and compared to determine the influences of DD and MW on hydrolysis. The results showed that higher DD and higher MW chitosans possessed a lower affinity for the enzyme and a slower degradation rate. Those samples with a lower DD and lower MW were more susceptible substrates.     

甲壳素类液晶高分子研究--低分子量壳聚糖溶致液晶性及分子量对液晶临界浓度的影响

研究了两种用酶降解法得到的低分子量壳聚糖样品(CS1和CS2)的溶致液晶性.用GPC并辅以质谱法确定了两样品的数均相对分子质量为622和2311 g/mol.在相对分子质量低至622的低分子量壳聚糖(相当于四糖)水溶液中仍发现了溶致液晶现象,并确定出相对分子质量为622和2311的低分子量壳聚糖液晶临界浓度为73%和36%(W/W%),这些结果与已报道的中、高分子量壳聚糖液晶临界浓度随分子量升高而降低的基本规律是一致的.实验结果与经典的KS理论预测值不符,因为低分子量壳聚糖的相对分子质量超过了KS理论对高分子临界浓度的预测范围.     

O-（4-双胍基苯甲酰基）壳聚糖盐酸盐的制备及其抗菌活性

通过壳聚糖与含双胍基结构的芳酰氯反应,得到具有抗菌活性的双胍基化壳聚糖衍生物。利用对双胍基苯甲酸盐酸盐与氯化亚砜的反应,得到盐酸对双胍基苯甲酰氯后,再在甲烷磺酸-二甲基亚砜（MeSO3H-DMSO）介质中与壳聚糖进行缩合反应,得到了O-（4-双胍基苯甲酰基）壳聚糖盐酸盐（p-BGBC）。用FT-IR、1H-NMR、GP...     

Evaluation of Antibacterial and Antifungal Properties of Low Molecular Weight Chitosan Extracted from Hermetia illucens Relative to Crab Chitosan

This study shows the research on the depolymerisation of insect and crab chitosans using novel enzymes. Enzyme preparations containing recombinant chitinase Chi 418 from Trichoderma harzianum, chitinase Chi 403, and chitosanase Chi 402 from Myceliophthora thermophila, all belonging to the family GH18 of glycosyl hydrolases, were used to depolymerise a biopolymer, resulting in a range of chitosans with average molecular weights (M_w) of 6–21 kDa. The depolymerised chitosans obtained from crustaceans and insects were studied, and their antibacterial and antifungal properties were evaluated. The results proved the significance of the chitosan’s origin, showing the potential of Hermetia illucens as a new source of low molecular weight chitosan with an improved biological activity.     

Bioaccessibility and Cellular Uptake of Carotenoids Extracted from Bactris gasipaes Fruit: Differences between Conventional and Ionic Liquid-Mediated Extraction

Currently, on an industrial scale, synthetic colorants are used in many fields, as well as those extracted with conventional organic solvents (COSs), leading to several environmental issues. Therefore, we developed a sustainable extraction and purification method mediated by ionic liquids (IL), which is considered an alternative high-performance replacement for COSs. Carotenoids are natural pigments with low bioaccessibility (BCT) and bioavailability (BV) but with huge importance to health. To investigate if the BCT and cellular uptake of the carotenoids are modified by the extraction method, we conducted a comparison assay between both extraction procedures (IL vs. COS). For this, we used the Amazonian fruit Bactris gasipaes, a rich source of pro-vitamin A carotenoids, to obtain the extract, which was emulsified and subjected to an in vitro digestion model followed by the Caco-2 cell absorption assay. The bioaccessibility of carotenoids using IL was better than those using COS (33.25%, and 26.84%, respectively). The cellular uptake of the carotenoids extracted with IL was 1.4-fold higher than those extracted using COS. Thus, IL may be a feasible alternative as extraction solvent in the food industry, replacing COS, since, in this study, no IL was present in the final extract.     

Altered enzymatic activity of lysozymes bound to variously sulfated chitosans

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of the variously sulfated chitosans on lysozyme activity and structure.It was shown that the specific enzymatic activity of lysozyme remained almost similar to the native protein after being bound to 6-O-sulfated chitosan(6S-chitosan) and 3,6-O-sulfated chitosan(3,6S-chitosan),but decreased greatly after being bound to 2-N-6-O-sulfated chitosan(2,6S-chitosan).Meanwhile,among these sulfated chitosans,2,6S-chitosan induced the greatest conformational change in lysozyme as indicated by the fluorescence spectra.These findings demonstrated that when sulfated chitosans of different structures bind to lysozyme,lysozyme undergoes conformational change of different magnitudes,which results in corresponding levels of lysozyme activity.Further study on the interaction of sulfated chitosans with lysozyme by surface plasmon resonance(SPR) suggested that their affinities might be determined by their molecular structures.     

Degradation of β-chitosan by solution plasma process (SPP)

In this work, the solution plasma process (SPP) is used to treat β-chitosan solutions in order to induce the degradation of chitosan. The effects of solution plasma on the properties of chitosan solutions are investigated. The treatment time was varied from 0 to 300 min. The plasma-treated chitosan was characterized by the following methods; molecular weight by GPC, viscosity, crystal structure by XRD, chemical characteristics by FT-IR, solubility by UV–vis spectrophotometer, and fractional analysis. The results showed that after treatment with plasma for 15–120 min, the viscosity of the chitosan solution and apparent molecular weight of chitosans decreased remarkably, when compared to those of untreated sample. Longer treatment times had less effect on both viscosity and molecular weight of the samples. This suggested that the degradation process of chitosan occurred during plasma treatment. The XRD analysis showed that the crystallinity of chitosan was destroyed, resulting in amorphous structure. FT-IR analysis revealed that chemical structure of chitosan was not affected by solution plasma treatment. The %yield of water-soluble chitosan was increased with increasing plasma treatment time. These results implied that solution plasma process is able to induce the degradation of chitosan solutions.     

放射标记法研究壳聚糖与牛血清白蛋白的自组装超薄膜

基片在两种带有相反电荷的聚电解质溶液中交替吸附 ,其表面形成致密有序的超薄膜的自组装 (ＥＳＡ ｅｌｅｃｔｒｏｓｔａｔｉｃｓｅｌｆ ａｓｓｅｍｂｌｙ)技术是由Ｄｅｃｈｅｒ及其合作者在 1 991年提出[1] ,由于简单易行 ,从一出现就受到了广大研究者的极大兴趣[2～ 4 ] .对生物材料来说 ,这无疑是一项非常重要且方便的表面改性手段 .因为生物材料在生物体内种植时 ,是否会被机体视为异物 ,关键在于机体与材料表面的相互作用 ,而与材料的本体性质基本无关[5] .因此利用这种技术 ,可对生物材料 ,特别是对那些生物相容性不好的材料表面进行…     

Effect of hemicellulase on the molecular weight and structure of chitosan

A cheap, commercially available and efficient hemicellulase was used to degrade partially N-acetylated chitosan. The degradation was monitored by gel permeation chromatography. Factors affecting the enzymatic hydrolysis of chitosan are studied. The degraded chitosans were characterized by X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, differential thermal analysis, Fourier transform infrared and magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The results show that the enzymatic hydrolysis was endo-action and mainly occurred in a random fashion. The total degree of acetylation of chitosan did not change after degradation. The decrease of molecular weight led to transformation of crystal structure, decrease of thermal stability and the increase of water-solubility, but the chemical structures of residues were not modified.     

LOW MOLECULAR WEIGHT O-CARBOXYMETHYLATED CHITOSANS DERIVED FROM IRRADIATED CHITOSAN AND THEIR ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY

INTRODUCTIONChitin is the second most naturally abundant biopolymer and is found in a variety of organisms, including fungalcell walls, the exoskeleton of crustaceans, skeletal tissue of mollusks and the integument of insects.When treated with alkali, chitin can be deactylated and turned into chitosan, which is a linear binaryheteropolysaccharide composed of (1-4) linked 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-β-D-glucopyranose and 2-amino-2-deoxy-β-D-glucopyranose residues. Chitosan has a wide variety of …     

Recent Progress in Chitosanase Production of Monomer-Free Chitooligosaccharides: Bioprocess Strategies and Future Applications

Biological activities of chitosan oligosaccharides (COS) are well documented, and numerous reports of COS production using specific and non-specific enzymes are available. However, strategies for improving the overall yield by making it monomer free need to be developed. Continuous enzymatic production from chitosan derived from marine wastes is desirable and is cost-effective. Isolation of potential microbes showing chitosanase activity from various ecological niches, gene cloning, enzyme immobilization, and fractionation/purification of COS are some areas, where lot of work is in progress. This review covers recent measures to improve monomer-free COS production using chitosanase/non-specific enzymes and purification/fractionation of these molecules using ultrafiltration and column chromatographic techniques. Various bioprocess strategies, gene cloning for enhanced chitosanase enzyme production, and other measures for COS yield improvements have also been covered in this review. COS derivative preparation as well as COS-coated nanoparticles for efficient drug delivery are being focused in recent studies.     

分子量对壳聚糖溶致液晶性的影响

三种不同分子量的壳聚糖[脱乙酰度均为(84±1)%]在二氯乙酸溶液中都呈现胆甾型溶致液晶相.临界浓度随分子量增加而降低,但均比同样聚合度的甲壳素的高.用偏光显微镜法和激光小角散射法测得的胆甾液晶相的螺距很相近,在浓度相同时,其值随分子量的增加而减小.     

甲壳素类液晶高分子的研究Ⅳ.脱乙酰度对壳聚糖液晶性的影响

通过壳聚糖乙酰化法制备了不同脱乙酰度的壳聚糖 ,并研究了脱乙酰度这一结构因素对壳聚糖溶致液晶性的影响 .观察到脱乙酰度为 5 0 %左右时 ,壳聚糖在水中和二氯乙酸中的溶致液晶临界浓度最高 .壳聚糖在水中的溶致液晶临界浓度远低于在二氯乙酸中的临界浓度 .