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HighlightsCertain alginates are effective inhibitors of pancreatic lipase.The level of lipase inhibition by alginates is related to the structure of the polymer.High guluronate alginates achieve greater lipase inhibition than high mannuronate.Alginates have the potential to be a well-tolerated obesity treatment.

Mucus layers often provide a unique and multi-functional hydrogel interface between the epithelial cells of organisms and their external environment. Mucus has exceptional properties including elasticity, changeable rheology and an ability to self-repair by re-annealing, and is therefore an ideal medium for trapping and immobilising pathogens and serving as a barrier to microbial infection. The ability to produce a functional surface mucosa was an important evolutionary step, which evolved first in the Cnidaria, which includes corals, and the Ctenophora. This allowed the exclusion of non-commensal microbes and the subsequent development of the mucus-lined digestive cavity seen in higher metazoans. The fundamental architecture of the constituent glycoprotein mucins is also evolutionarily conserved. Although an understanding of the biochemical interactions between bacteria and the mucus layer are important to the goal of developing new antimicrobial strategies, they remain relatively poorly understood. This review summarises the physicochemical properties and evolutionary importance of mucus, which make it so successful in the prevention of bacterial infection. In addition, the strategies developed by bacteria to counteract the mucus layer are also explored.

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Seaweeds are an underutilised nutritional resource that could not only compliment the current western diet but potentially bring additional health benefits over and above their nutritional value. There are four groups of seaweed algae; green algae (Chlorophyceae), red algae (Rhodophycae), blue-green algae (Cyanophyceae) and brown algae (Phaeophyceae). Seaweeds are rich in bioactive components including polysaccharides and polyphenols. Polysaccharides content, such as fucoidan, laminarin, as well as alginate is generally high in brown seaweeds which are also a source of polyphenols such as phenolic acids, flavonoids, phlorotannin, stilbenes and lignans. These components have been shown to reduce the activity of digestive enzymes, modulating enzymes such as α-amylase, α-glucosidase, pepsin and lipase. This review discusses the effect of several of these components on the digestive processes within the gastrointestinal tract; focusing on the effect of alginate on pancreatic lipase activity and its potential health benefits. Concluding that there is evidence to suggest alginate has the potential to be used as an obesity treatment, however, further in vivo research is required and an effective delivery method for alginate must be designed.

Schnürch, Nanoparticles decorated with proteolytic enzymes, a promising strategy to overcome the mucus barrier, European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics (2015), doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpb. 2015.01.008 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. 3.3. Nanoparticles formulation 100 mg of PAA or enzyme-polymer conjugate were dissolved in 10 mL water to obtain a 1wt% solution and the pH was adjusted to 8. This mixture was slowly added to 7.5 mL of Lumogen aceton solution 0.07 mg/mL. After 10 min equilibration 1 mL of CaCl 2 5 mg/mL dissolved in water was added drop by drop and stirred for 30 min. The suspension was then centrifuged at 5500 rpm (4966 x g) for 25 min (MiniSpin centrifuge, Eppendorf), the supernatant discarded and the pellet washed with 50vol% aceton/water mixture for three times.Finally the washed pellet was resuspended in 1wt% trehalose/water solution by means of probe sonication for 10 sec and then lyophilized. The obtained products were referred to PAA NPs when PAA was used for the formulation, PAA-PAP NPs when PAA-PAP was used for the formulation and PAA-BRO NPs when PAA-BRO was used for the formulation. Nanoparticles characterizationNanoparticle particle size and charge characterization was carried out by using a NICOMPTM 380 ZLS PSS (Particle Sizing Systems, CA, USA). Particle size was recorded at a scattering angle of 90° for 10 min at room temperature. Zeta potential was recorded under electric field strength of 5 V/cm for 3 minutes at room temperature. Enzyme quantificationThe amount of enzyme conjugated to polymers and nanoparticles was determined by micro BCA protein assay, following the provider´s instruction. The samples were dissolved in 0.1 M NaOH solution containing 1.5wt% of sodium dodecyl sulfate to obtain a concentration of 0.1 mg/mL. The samples were incubated at 25°C in a thermomixer (Thermomixer Conform;Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany) under constant shaking, 1000 rpm for 2 h. Thereafter, 150µL of sample were mixed with 150 µL of working reagent in a 96 well plate and incubated for 7 further 2 h at 37°C. Finally the absorbance was detected at 562 nm by using a microplate reader (TECAN Infinite M200, Austria GmbH). The amount of enzyme was extrapolated by fitting the data to a calibration curve obtained via analyzing solution with different concentration of PAP or BRO. The enzyme content of polymers and NPs was reported on a weighted base as the ratio between the amount of conjugated enzyme and the amount of polymers or NPs. The conjugation efficacy onto the polymers was calculated as weight percent of the amount of conjugated enzyme relative to...