Abstract
Zein is a biodegradable and biocompatible material extracted from renewable resources; it comprises almost 80% of the whole protein content in corn. This review highlights and describes some zein and zein-based materials, focusing on biomedical applications. It was demonstrated in this review that the biodegradation and biocompatibility of zein are key parameters for its uses in the food-packing, biomedical and pharmaceutical fields. Furthermore, it was pointed out that the presence of hydrophilic-hydrophobic groups in zein chains is a very important aspect for obtaining material with different hydrophobicities by mixing with other moieties (polymeric or not), but also for obtaining derivatives with different properties. The physical and chemical characteristics and special structure (at the molecular, nano and micro scales) make zein molecules inherently superior to many other polymers from natural sources and synthetic ones. The film-forming property of zein and zein-based materials is important for several applications. The good electrospinnability of zein is important for producing zein and zein-based nanofibers for applications in tissue engineering and drug delivery. The use of zein’s hydrolysate peptides for reducing blood pressure is another important issue related to the application of derivatives of zein in the biomedical field. It is pointed out that the biodegradability and biocompatibility of zein and other inherent properties associated with zein’s structure allow a myriad of applications of such materials with great potential in the near future.
Highlights
Zein is the main form of protein storage contained in the endosperm tissue of corn and comprises almost 80% of the whole protein content in the corn [1]
The results demonstrate the potential of the zein/PCL biocomposite scaffolds to be used in tissue engineering strategies to regenerate bone defects [78]
This review describes and highlights some zein and zein-based materials, attempting to update the information concerning the basic structure, properties, changes of the properties, degradation and applications of zein and zein-based materials, mainly in the food-packing, biomedical and pharmaceutical fields
Summary
Zein is the main form of protein storage contained in the endosperm tissue of corn and comprises almost 80% of the whole protein content in the corn [1]. Even though some reviews focusing on zein and zein-based products have been published [5,11], new publications show new methodologies to prepare, characterize and apply materials based on zein, plasticized-zein, zein-derivatives (through chemically modifying processes, such as hydrolysis, cross-linking, etc.) or blending zein in a physical mixture with other polymers (synthetic or natural). The authors attempt to highlight and describe some zein and zein-based materials, updating information concerning the basic structure, properties, changes to the properties (by chemical modification, blending, mixing), colloidal particle formation, degradation (enzymatic or not) and.
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