Immobilisation of Cardosin A in Chitosan Sponges as a Novel Implant for Drug Delivery

Abstract

Cardosin A is extracted from the pistils of the plant Cynara cardunculus L. and chitosan is a polysaccharide derived from chitin with valuable properties as a biomaterial. In this work we report our experiments on the synthesis of chitosan sponges and immobilisation of cardosin A, by entrapment. We observed that 10-15% of the incorporated cardosin A were released over 6 days of incubation. In addition, we could also note that this immobilisation procedure did not induce any specificity alterations on cardosin A. The specificity study of the enzyme, using beta-chain of oxidised insulin, showed that the immobilised and released enzymes have the same hydrolysis pattern as the free enzyme. The ability of this enzyme to hydrolyse type I collagen was maintained, after the immobilisation procedure. The biocompatibility in vivo of these sponges was evaluated by histological staining after implantation in rats submitted to abdominal surgery. Results of this study demonstrated that these chitosan sponges are very promising vehicles for the application of cardosin A, in abdominal cavity for prevention and reduction of the adhesions formation.

Properties and applications of phytepsins from thistle flowers

“…Immobilization of cardosin A in chitosan sponges by entrapment did not induce alterations in the specificity of the enzyme, thus maintaining the ability to hydrolyze type-I collagen. The biocompatibility of that form of immobilized cardosin A was tested in rats submitted to abdominal surgery (Pereira et al, 2005). According to the outcome observed, the authors proposed that these chitosan sponges would be promising vehicles for introduction of cardosin A into the abdominal cavity for prevention and reduction of adhesion formations.…”

Noninvasive characterization (EPR, μCT, NMR) of 3D PLA electrospun fiber sponges for controlled drug delivery

“…Freeze-drying is frequently used to produce 3D scaffold sponge systems that are successfully applied for the delivery of different compounds ( Duarte et al, 2005 ; Kassem et al, 2015 ; Tihan et al, 2015 ; Zhang et al, 2018 ). They have been translated into clinical practice as, e.g., the implantable gentamycin-releasing collagen sponge GENTA-COLL® resorb.…”

Cardosins: A new and efficient plant enzymatic tool to dissociate neuronal cells for the establishment of cell cultures

“…We have been working with cardosins, plant aspartic proteinases (AP) extracted from pistils of Cynara cardunculus, L., which show caseinolytic and collagenolytic activity towards specific peptide bonds Egas et al, 2000;Frazão et al, 1999;Pereira et al, 2005;Sarmento et al, 2003Sarmento et al, , 2006Veríssimo et al, 1996), contrasting to trypsin that exhibit a wide specificity (Czapinska and Otlewski, 1999). The collagenase-like specificity of the enzyme, combined with its stability and ease of preparation, raised the possibility of its use for the establishment of primary cell cultures.…”