Abstract
Amino-acids, peptides, and protein hydrolysates, together with their coordinating compounds, have various applications as fertilizers, nutritional supplements, additives, fillers, or active principles to produce hydrogels with therapeutic properties. Hydrogel-based patches can be adapted for drug, protein, or peptide delivery, and tissue healing and regeneration. These materials have the advantage of copying the contour of the wound surface, ensuring oxygenation, hydration, and at the same time protecting the surface from bacterial invasion. The aim of this paper is to describe the production of a new type of hydrogel based on whey protein isolates (WPI), whey protein hydrolysates (WPH), and gelatin. The hydrogels were obtained by utilizing a microwave-assisted method using gelatin, glycerol, WPI or WPH, copper sulfate, and water. WPH was obtained by enzymatic hydrolysis of whey protein isolates in the presence of bromelain. The hydrogel films obtained have been characterized by FT-IR and UV-VIS spectroscopy. The swelling degree and swelling kinetics have also been determined.
Highlights
Accepted: 16 June 2021Amino-acids, peptides, and protein hydrolysates together with their coordinating compounds have various applications as fertilizers, nutritional supplements, additives, fillers, or active principles to produce hydrogels with therapeutic properties [1,2].Whey is the soluble fraction of milk, rich in proteins, minerals, and lactose that are separated from casein during the manufacture of cheese or casein.Whey has been considered for a long time as a by-product of cheese and curd manufacturing
The aim of this research is to produce a new type of hydrogel based on whey protein isolates or whey protein hydrolysates and gelatin crosslinked with copper ions
The FT-IR spectra of whey protein isolates (WPI), whey protein hydrolysates (WPH) and hydrogels have been normalized for Amide I
Summary
Whey is the soluble fraction of milk, rich in proteins, minerals, and lactose that are separated from casein during the manufacture of cheese or casein. Whey has been considered for a long time as a by-product of cheese and curd manufacturing. Whey proteins and their hydrolyzed products have proved to have a large scale of bioactive properties. Whey can be a very useful and valuable solution among protein raw materials for amino-acid/peptide production, due to its low cost and availability, high nutritional value, low bitterness and low antigenicity; whey being the major by-product of cheese manufacturing, representing up to 20% of total milk proteins [3,4]. Enzymatic hydrolysis of whey can be used for improving the functional, nutritional, and immunological properties of proteins, reducing the allergenicity and antigenicity of the proteins
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