Clay Mineral Minerals as a Strategy for Biomolecule Incorporation: Amino Acids Approach.

Luciano C Brandão-Lima,Leilson R Bezerra,Edson C Silva-Filho,Paulo V C G Costa,Fabrícia C Silva,Josy A Osajima,Aline G De A Silva,Edgar A Alves-Júnior,Maria G Fonseca,Jose F P De Moura,César Viseras

doi:10.3390/ma15010064

Abstract

The potential use of amino acids by ruminal microorganisms converting them into microbial protein for ruminants makes it challenging to supplement these nutrients in an accessible form in animals’ diets. Several strategies to protect amino acids from ruminal degradation were reported, producing amino acids available for the protein used in the intestine called “bypass.” The intercalation of biomolecules in clay mineral minerals has gained notoriety due to its ability to support, protect, transport, physicochemical properties and non-toxicity. This study aimed to investigate the incorporation of L-lysine (Lys), L-methionine (Met), and L-tryptophan (Trp) amino acids in the clay minerals sepiolite (Sep) and Veegum® (Veg) using the adsorption method. The characterization techniques of X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy indicated the presence of biomolecules in the inorganic matrices. Elemental and thermal analyzes monitored the percentages of incorporated amino acids. They showed better incorporation capacities for Veg, such as Met-Veg < Lys-Veg < Trp-Veg and Lys-Sep < Met-Sep < Trp-Sep for sepiolite, except for the incorporation of Met. Matrices provide a promising alternative for planning the administration of biomolecules, using essential amino acids as models, and may offer an alternative to improve functional diet strategies.

Highlights

Proteins are nitrogenous organic nutrients present in all living cells and are essential to every animal’s life
This study aimed to investigate the incorporation of essential amino acids in two different types of clay minerals, fibrous and lamellar (Veegum®), as a strategy to protect biomolecules for nutritional requirements
Two different behaviors were found by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), in which the fibrous clay mineral Sep suggested a decrease in the stacking order due to the presence of amino acids incorporated on the surface or inside the channels, while the expansion of the clay mineral Veg showed changes in the respective peaks referring to the reflection d001, which suggested increases in the basal spacing from 11.45 Å in Veg to 14.75 Å, 15.34 Å, and 14.80 Å for the incorporation of lysine (Lys-Veg), methionine (Met-Veg), and tryptophan (Trp-Veg), respectively

Summary

Introduction

Proteins are nitrogenous organic nutrients present in all living cells and are essential to every animal’s life. Some chemical and/or physical processes can be used to “protect” the amino acids from ruminal degradation, providing “bypass” protein, that is, not degraded in the rumen and digested in the intestine, enabling a superior supply of amino acids in the intestine, improving the animal’s performance [6,7]. Clay minerals have been used in the biomaterials area as a support for the transport of biologically active molecules due to their excellent chemical, physical, and non-toxic characteristics [8,9,10,11]. Amino acids have a broad spectrum of chemical reactivity, are involved in several biochemical processes, and present the possibility of modulating their interactions with solid surfaces, for example, pH, ionic strength, and others [16]

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