Optimization on thermal treatment synthesis of lactoferrin nanoparticles via Taguchi design method

Abstract

Lactoferrin is a globular protein-based biopolymer which has many applications in pharmacy and food industry. In this study, human lactoferrin nanoparticles were synthesized by thermal treatment technique. Taguchi array design was employed to minimize the size of nanoparticles. To gain as this purpose, four main factors with four different levels involved as: lactoferrin concentration (1-4 mg/mL), pH values (6-9), heating rate of (2-5 °C/min) and final temperature of (60-90 °C) were investigated. In the following, prepared nanoparticles were characterized by dynamic light scattering, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy analysis. Analysis of variance showed that lactoferrin concentration with the contribution percentage of 45% is most important in the preparation of nanoparticles. Also, optimal conditions for synthesized nanoparticles by thermal treatment technique were: LF concentration of 3 mg/mL, pH 8, heating rate of 3 °C/min and final temperature of 90 °C to achieve particle size of 188.8 nm, polydispersity index of 0.317 and zeta potential of − 52.2 mV.

Drug Repurposing of Lactoferrin Combination in a Nanodrug Delivery System to Combat Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 Infection

“…In addition, the zeta potential for the prepared nanoparticles was found to be −15.1 ± 1.9 mV. This charge is considered an advantage to guarantee the repulsion between nanoparticles, thus preventing their aggregation [17,18]. Moreover, nitazoxanide-loaded lactoferrin nanoparticles possess an average size of 353 ± 17 nm and a PDI of 0.195.…”

“…Lactoferrin nanoparticles were prepared according to previously reported protocols with several modifications [17,18]. In brief, a lactoferrin solution (0.2% w/v) was prepared by dissolving the appropriate amount in distilled water at Room Temperature (RT) for 1 h. Then the pH of the solution was adjusted to 8.…”

“…PDI is estimated to investigate the uniformity of the particle size in the nanosuspension. A low PDI value indicates the narrow distribution of the particle size [18,21]. Meanwhile, zeta potential is estimated to detect the surface charge of the prepared nanoparticles because the abundance of charges in nanoparticles prevent their aggregation, thereby increasing their stability within the nanosuspension [17,19].…”

“…This is still considered enough surface charge to prevent aggregation of nanoparticles. Therefore, they are considered to form stable nanosuspension [17,18]. Finally, the nanoparticle showed an entrapment efficiency of almost 70% of the loaded drug.…”

Nanoencapsulation of oral‐pharmaceutical lactoferrin using chitosan and the evaluation of stability against trypsin and pepsin and its antibacterial effect

“…In the present study, the surface examined by the AFM was homogeneous and uniform. Mofidian et al in 2019, used AFM analysis to evaluate human Lf nanoparticles, and the two-dimensional image topography showed relatively smooth, spherical surfaces [48]. The properties of NPs affect their behaviour in vivo.…”