Fabrication and delivery properties of soy Kunitz trypsin inhibitor nanoparticles

Abstract

Soy Kunitz trypsin inhibitor nanoparticles (KTIP) were prepared successfully by heating KTI at 80 °C in the presence of sodium sulfite. This treatment not only inactivated most trypsin inhibitor activity (TIA) of KTI (about 90.63%), but also resulting in the formation of KTI nanoparticles (about 85.92 nm) with good monodispersity (PDI: 0.18), which were confirmed by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) determination. SDS-PAGE analysis revealed that the formation of limited aggregates (KTIP) was mediated by an –SH/–SS– exchange reaction. The delivery capacity of KTIP for curcumin as model bioactives was evaluated. The results indicated that the co-assembly of KTIP and curcumin actually greatly enhanced the dispersibility, stability and bioaccessibility of curcumin in aqueous solution. Moreover, in vitro anti-proliferative activity on tumor cells assay showed that nanoparticulate curcumin was more effective than free curcumin in solution by controlling the tumor cell growth with time. These findings suggest that KTIP could be developed as a novel nano-delivery vehicle for hydrophobic bioactives and for use in functional foods and pharmaceutics.