Zein - a plant-based material of growing importance: New perspectives for innovative uses

Jaski, Ana Caroline; Schmitz, Francielle; Horta, Rayta Paim; Cadorin, Larissa; Silva, Bruno José Gonçalves da; Andreaus, Jürgen; Paes, M. C. D.; Riegel‐Vidotti, Izabel C.; Zimmermann, Lizandra M.

doi:10.1016/j.indcrop.2022.115250

Cited by 37 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 241 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Zein is a hydrophobic prolamine-rich protein extracted from corn (Zea mais) which is now strongly emerging as new material for a number of applications in biomedical/pharmaceutical, textile, food packaging, and environmental fields. Regarding the latter application, zein's ability to remediate air pollutants such as PM, formaldehyde, and carbon monoxide have been previously reported [77]. In Jaski et al (2022), it has been reported that the nanofiber diameter decreases gradually as the zein content increases.…”

Section: Electrospun Water-soluble Synthetic Polymers For Multifuncti...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Regarding the latter application, zein's ability to remediate air pollutants such as PM, formaldehyde, and carbon monoxide have been previously reported [77]. In Jaski et al (2022), it has been reported that the nanofiber diameter decreases gradually as the zein content increases. The alcoholysis degree of PVA affected both the air filtration efficiency and the micromorphology of nanofibers, i.e., the low-alcoholysis-degree PVA exhibited better micromorphology and filtration efficiency.…”

Section: Electrospun Water-soluble Synthetic Polymers For Multifuncti...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, a durability test of FNA has been performed, revealing a high durability of FNA after 10 hrs [76]. Jaski et al (2022) have recently reported the fabrication of a zein-based nanofiber material using two kinds of PVA with the alcoholysis degree of 98-99% and 87-89% as auxiliary spinning polymers. Zein is a hydrophobic prolamine-rich protein extracted from corn (Zea mais) which is now strongly emerging as new material for a number of applications in biomedical/pharmaceutical, textile, food packaging, and environmental fields.…”

Section: Electrospun Water-soluble Synthetic Polymers For Multifuncti...mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Application of Electrospun Water-Soluble Synthetic Polymers for Multifunctional Air Filters and Face Masks

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The worsening of air quality is an urgent human health issue of modern society. The outbreak of COVID-19 has made the improvement of air quality even more imperative, both for the general achievement of major health gains and to reduce the critical factors in the transmission of airborne diseases. Thus, the development of solutions for the filtration of airborne pollutants is pivotal. Electrospinning has gained wide attention as an effective fabrication technique for preparing ultrafine fibers which are specifically tailored for air filtration. Nevertheless, the utilization of harmful organic solvents is the major barrier for the large-scale applicability of electrospinning. The use of water-soluble synthetic polymers has attracted increasing attention as a ‘green’ solution in electrospinning. We reported an overview of the last five years of the scientific literature on the use of water-soluble synthetic polymers for the fabrication of multifunctional air filters layers. Most of recent studies have focused on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). Various modifications of electrospun polymers have been also described. The use of water-soluble synthetic polymers can contribute to the scalability of electrospinning and pave the way to innovative applications. Further studies will be required to fully harness the potentiality of these ‘greener’ electrospinning processes.

show abstract

Section: Electrospun Water-soluble Synthetic Polymers For Multifuncti...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Electrospun Water-soluble Synthetic Polymers For Multifuncti...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Electrospun Water-soluble Synthetic Polymers For Multifuncti...mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Application of Electrospun Water-Soluble Synthetic Polymers for Multifunctional Air Filters and Face Masks

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…These amino acid residues form an effective protective barrier that prevents air and moisture from entering through its surface, however, this same protection is rapidly broken down in environments with high water activity. [1,2] One of the main problems with zein materials is their fragility due to the low mobility of their polymer chains. Thus, due to zein's affinity with hydrophobic components, many authors have studied the ability of essential oils and fatty acids to serve as plasticizers for zein, both allowing the obtainment of drug-delivery systems and inferring the materials' more favorable mechanical properties.…”

Section: Doi: 101002/mabi202200524mentioning

confidence: 99%

Preparation and Investigation of Thermally Annealed Zein–Propolis Electrospun Nanofibers for Biomedical Applications

Hochheim

Sampaio

Cruz

et al. 2023

Macromolecular Bioscience

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Zein, a corn‐derived protein, has a variety of applications ranging from drug delivery to tissue engineering and wound healing. This work aims to develop a biocompatible scaffold for dermal applications based on thermally annealed electrospun propolis‐loaded zein nanofibers. Pristine fibers' biocompatibility is determined in vitro. Next, propolis from Melipona quadrifasciata is added to the fibers at different concentrations (5% to 25%), and the scaffolds are studied. The physicochemical properties of zein/propolis precursor dispersions are evaluated and the results are correlated to the fibers' properties. Due to zein's and propolis' very favorable interactions, which are responsible for the increase in the dispersions surface tension, nanometric size ribbon‐like fibers ranging from 420 to 575 nm are obtained. The fiber's hydrophobicity is not dependent on propolis concentration and increases with the annealing procedure. Propolis inhibitory concentration (IC50) is determined as 61.78 µg mL−1. When loaded into fibers, propolis is gradually delivered to cells as Balb/3T3 fibroblasts and are able to adhere, grow, and interact with pristine and propolis‐loaded fibers, and cytotoxicity is not observed. Therefore, the zein–propolis nanofibers are considered biocompatible and safe. The results are promising and provide prospects for the development of wound‐healing nanofiber patches—one of propolis' main applications.

show abstract

“…21 Zein is a biodegradable plant-based protein obtained from an abundant renewable agricultural source, corn. 22 Moreover, considering that the corn market is massively widespread around the World with an annual production of over 1 billion tons, zein becomes readily available in the environment as organic waste. 23 Over the past few decades, zein has been processed in several shapes such as nano/microparticles, nano/ microcapsules, nanofibers, films, and hydrogels, thus showing a high versatility in acquiring specific morphologies for the delivery of bioactive agents.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant-Based, Hydrogel-like Microfibers as an Antioxidant Platform for Skin Burn Healing

Fiorentini

Suarato

Summa

et al. 2023

ACS Appl. Bio Mater.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Natural polymers from organic wastes have gained increasing attention in the biomedical field as resourceful second raw materials for the design of biomedical devices which can perform a specific bioactive function and eventually degrade without liberating toxic residues in the surroundings. In this context, patches and bandages, that need to support the skin wound healing process for a short amount of time to be then discarded, certainly constitute good candidates in our quest for a more environmentally friendly management. Here, we propose a plant-based microfibrous scaffold, loaded with vitamin C (VitC), a bioactive molecule which acts as a protecting agent against UV damages and as a wound healing promoter. Fibers were fabricated via electrospinning from various zein/pectin formulations, and subsequently cross-linked in the presence of Ca 2+ to confer them a hydrogel-like behavior, which we exploited to tune both the drug release profile and the scaffold degradation. A comprehensive characterization of the physico-chemical properties of the zein/pectin/VitC scaffolds, either pristine or cross-linked, has been carried out, together with the bioactivity assessment with two representative skin cell populations (human dermal fibroblast cells and skin keratinocytes, HaCaT cells). Interestingly, col-1a gene expression of dermal fibroblasts increased after 3 days of growth in the presence of the microfiber extraction media, indicating that the released VitC was able to stimulate collagen mRNA production overtime. Antioxidant activity was analyzed on HaCaT cells via DCFH-DA assay, highlighting a fluorescence intensity decrease proportional to the amount of loaded VitC (down to 50 and 30%), confirming the protective effect of the matrices against oxidative stress. Finally, the most performing samples were selected for the in vivo test on a skin UVB-burn mouse model, where our constructs demonstrated to significantly reduce the inflammatory cytokines expression in the injured area (50% lower than the control), thus constituting a promising, environmentally sustainable alternative to skin patches.

show abstract

Zein - a plant-based material of growing importance: New perspectives for innovative uses

Cited by 37 publications

References 241 publications

Application of Electrospun Water-Soluble Synthetic Polymers for Multifunctional Air Filters and Face Masks

Application of Electrospun Water-Soluble Synthetic Polymers for Multifunctional Air Filters and Face Masks

Preparation and Investigation of Thermally Annealed Zein–Propolis Electrospun Nanofibers for Biomedical Applications

Plant-Based, Hydrogel-like Microfibers as an Antioxidant Platform for Skin Burn Healing

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About