Novel epoxy activated hydrogels for solving lactose intolerance
Magdy M M Elnashar1, Mohamed E Hassan2
1Center of Excellence, Encapsulation & Nanobiotechnology Group, National Research Center, El-Behouth Street, Cairo 12311, Egypt ; Polymers Department, National Research Center, El-Behouth Street, Cairo 12311, Egypt ; Biochemistry Department, Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia.
Biomed Research International
|July 12, 2014
Summary
Epoxy activated hydrogels significantly enhance lactase immobilization, tripling enzyme loading capacity compared to aldehyde methods. This improves lactose hydrolysis efficiency for treating lactose intolerance.
Area of Science:
- Biotechnology
- Biomaterials Science
- Enzyme Engineering
Background:
- Lactose intolerance affects a vast majority of the global population, stemming from the inability to digest lactose found in dairy products.
- Industrial hydrolysis of lactose using immobilized lactase offers a viable solution for dairy processing and lactose intolerance management.
- Current immobilization techniques face limitations in enzyme loading capacity and efficiency.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and optimize epoxy activated hydrogels for enhanced lactase immobilization.
- To compare the efficiency of epoxy activated hydrogels with aldehyde activated carrageenan for lactase immobilization.
- To investigate the impact of immobilization on enzyme stability and kinetic properties.
Main Methods:
- Enzyme immobilization of lactase onto epoxy activated hydrogels and aldehyde activated carrageenan.
- Characterization of hydrogel-enzyme interactions using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).
- Optimization of immobilization conditions, including epoxy chain length and enzyme concentration, and evaluation of enzyme kinetics (Km, Vmax).
Main Results:
- Lactase loading capacity was increased over threefold to 36.3 U/g gel with epoxy activated hydrogels, compared to 11 U/g gel with aldehyde activated carrageenan.
- Epoxy activation demonstrated superior binding affinity due to interactions with enzyme's -SH, -NH, and -OH groups, unlike aldehyde's -NH2 binding.
- Immobilized enzymes exhibited enhanced stability and doubled Michaelis constants (Km, Vmax), with epoxy-activated hydrogels achieving higher lactose conversion rates.
Conclusions:
- Epoxy activated hydrogels are significantly more efficient for lactase immobilization than aldehyde activated hydrogels.
- Enhanced enzyme loading and stability achieved with epoxy hydrogels offer improved industrial applications for lactose hydrolysis.
- This study presents a promising advancement in enzyme immobilization technology for addressing lactose intolerance and optimizing dairy processing.
