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Updated: Dec 20, 2025

Analysis and Specification of Starch Granule Size Distributions
Published on: March 4, 2021
Tailoring assembly behavior of starches to control insulin release from layer-by-layer assembled colloidal particles
Yiping Zhang1, Shaowen Zhong1, Chengdeng Chi1
1Ministry of Education Engineering Research Center of Starch and Protein Processing, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory for Green Processing of Natural Products and Product Safety, School of Food Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.
Abstract:
Self-assembly behavior of charged-starches significantly influenced core-shell structures of layer-by-layer assembled particles. In this study, insulin (IN)-loaded nanoparticles with structured shell features were fabricated to investigate how the interactions of carboxymethyl starch (CMS) with spermine-modified starch (SS) influenced IN release properties of the particles (IN/CMS/SS/CMS) within the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). Results indicated that the assembly action of CMS and SS could be controlled by simply tailoring the ratio of CMS/SS content. An intermediate CMS/SS ratio (1:4) was required to construct nanoparticles with compact shell structure and desirable IN release properties in the colon (74.23%). However, a higher CMS/SS ratio (1:2) yielded particles with loose shell structure and an excessive IN release in the upper GIT (58.89%), and a lower CMS/SS ratio (1:8) rather resulted in particles with higher compactness shell structure along with limited IN release in the colon (29.01%). The interactions between CMS and SS should be the key factor influencing core-shell structures and in turn the IN-release properties of the carrier. The shell structure and release properties of layer-by-layer assembled particles could be tailored by controlling the interactions between starches.
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