Desenvolvimento de nanoemulsões por técnica de baixo cisalhamento para incorporação de proteínas

Abstract

Nanoemulsions (NE) are drug carrier systems that consist of heterogeneous systems in which a liquid (internal phase) is dispersed in another (external phase) being stabilized by surfactants, with the drug being incorporated into the internal phase or adsorbed at the interface. This system is a promising alternative for the transport of drugs and biomolecules, including proteins of therapeutic interest such as papain. The papain is a protein of plant origin that has been researched as an alternative for the treatment of wounds, due to its anti-inflammatory and healing effects. However, its application is hampered by its low stability. Therefore, the development of NE systems appears as a possibility to allow protection to papain. The objective of this study is to developd soybean oil-based NE for papain adsorption, observing its average droplet size, polydispersity index (PDI), zeta potential and pH characteristics. The preparations were carried out by low-shear cold-shear technique, carrying out tests to establish the best concentrations of soybean oil, surfactants and poloxamer 407 in the production of blank NE. Thereafter, was realized adsorption of 1%, 2.5%, 3% and 5% of papain, and the physicochemical characteristics variations was observed comparing the blank NE with those loaded the papain. The results suggest the success in the papain adsorption from the alteration observed in the formulations potential zeta and size. The NE 1% and 3% papain loaded obtained at the end of the optimization study, showed droplet size below 200 nm (PDI<0.4). Lastly, it was concluded that it was possible to obtain NE for protein incorporation, with small and uniform size distribution, using a low-shear methodology.