Glycated Bovine Serum Albumin for Curcumin Nanoencapsulation: Bio-Nano Interactions

Abstract

Glycation of whey proteins results in food-grade composites with modified physicochemical properties. Here, the reaction between glucose and bovine serum albumin (BSA) is promoted under wet-heating conditions. The glycated protein is characterized in depth and compared to the native counterpart and the impact of glycation on properties like net surface charge, particle size and surface hydrophobicity are observed. Conjugation with glucose reduced the surface hydrophobicity of BSA but the interactions between albumin and curcumin became stronger, which contradicts the direct relationship between curcumin binding affinity and protein surface hydrophobicity described in the literature. Nonetheless, curcumin was still capable of quenching the intrinsic fluorescence of the protein after conjugation with glucose and leads to the conclusion that curcumin and BSA interact in a different manner upon glycation. This thesis also depicts mucin as a forthcoming model in the study of nanoparticle interactions with intestinal mucus and glycation posed no effect on such interactions.