A simple and reproducible method for production of protein nanoparticles at biological pH using egg white

Abstract

Protein nanoparticles have been found to be of great interest as a carrier in a drug delivery system due to its biodegradability and non toxic nature. The purpose of the present investigation is to establish a simple and fast method for the preparation of stable egg white protein (EWP) nanoparticles. Desolvation process was adopted and the resulting nanoparticles were stabilized by a crosslinker, glutaraldehyde. To get the suitable and stable nanoparticles several process parameters such as pH, agitation speed, concentration of egg white, rate of addition of desolvating agent, gluteraldehyde concentration and addition of salt and buffer were examined. The minimum size of 112nm has been obtained at pH 9.0 when ethanol addition rate was 1ml/min at an agitation speed of 550 rpm. The size of nanoparticles is affected largely by pH of egg white while it is not significantly affected by the agitation speed and concentration of egg white and crosslinker. The SEM monochrome image of eggwhite nanoparticles displays the spherical shape with around 100nm size.