Enzyme-Immobilized Chitosan Nanoparticles as Environmentally Friendly and Highly Effective Antimicrobial Agents.

Highly effective and minimally toxic antimicrobial agents have been prepared by immobilizing glucose oxidase (GOx) onto biocompatible chitosan nanoparticles (CS-NPs). CS-NPs were prepared via ionotropic gelation and used for the immobilization of GOx via approaches of covalent attachment (CA), enzyme coating (EC), enzyme precipitate coating (EPC), and magnetic nanoparticle-incorporated EPC (Mag-EPC). EPC represents an approach consisting of enzyme covalent attachment, precipitation, and cross-linking, with CA and EC being control samples while Mag-EPC was prepared by mixing magnetic nanoparticles (Mag) with enzymes during the preparation of EPC. The GOx activities of CA, EC, EPC, and Mag-EPC were 8.57, 17.7, 219, and 247 units/mg CS-NPs, respectively, representing 26 and 12 times higher activity of EPC than those of CA and EC, respectively. EPC improved the activity and stability of GOx and led to good dispersion of CS-NPs, while Mag-EPC enabled facile magnetic separation. To demonstrate the expandability of the EPC approach to other enzymes, bovine carbonic anhydrase was also employed to prepare EPC and Mag-EPC samples for their characterizations. In the presence of glucose, EPC of GOx generated H2O2 in situ, which effectively inhibited the proliferation of Staphylococcus aureus in both suspended cultures and biofilms, thereby demonstrating the potential of EPC-GOx as environmentally friendly and highly effective antimicrobial materials.

One-pot enzymatic conversion of carbon dioxide and utilization for improved microbial growth.

We developed a process for one-pot CO2 conversion and utilization based on simple conversion of CO2 to bicarbonate at ambient temperature with no energy input, by using the cross-linking-based composites of carboxylated polyaniline nanofibers (cPANFs) and carbonic anhydrase. Carbonic anhydrase was immobilized on cPANFs via the approach of magnetically separable enzyme precipitate coatings (Mag-EPC), which consists of covalent enzyme attachment, enzyme precipitation, and cross-linking with amine-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles. Mag-EPC showed a half-life of 236 days under shaking, even resistance to 70% ethanol sterilization, and recyclability via facile magnetic separation. For one-pot CO2 conversion and utilization, Mag-EPC was used to accelerate the growth of microalga by supplying bicarbonate from CO2, representing 1.8-fold increase of cell concentration when compared to the control sample. After two repeated uses via simple magnetic separation, the cell concentration with Mag-EPC was maintained as high as the first cycle. This one-pot CO2 conversion and utilization is an alternative as well as complementary process to adsorption-based CO2 capture and storage as an environmentally friendly approach, demanding no energy input based on the effective action of the stabilized enzyme system.

Highly stabilized lipase in polyaniline nanofibers for surfactant-mediated esterification of ibuprofen.

Lipase (LP) from Candida rugosa was immobilized and stabilized in polyaniline nanofibers (PANFs) via a three-step process of enzyme adsorption, precipitation, and cross-linking, which generates the final immobilization called "EAPC". The activity of EAPC was 5.1 and 5.9 times higher than those of LP immobilizations via enzyme adsorption (EA) and enzyme adsorption/cross-linking (EAC), respectively. After incubation in an aqueous buffer under shaking (200 rpm) for 84 days, EAPC maintained 74% of its initial activity, while EA and EAC retained 11 and 24% of their initial activities, respectively. Highly stable and active EAPC was employed for the resolution of racemic ibuprofen via esterification of S-(+)-ibuprofen with 1-propanol in isooctane. The addition of 100 mM dioctyl sulfosuccinate (AOT) into the reaction medium increased the esterification activity by 61-fold, which can be explained by the better dispersion of EAPC in isooctane. EAPC showed 42% conversion in the esterification of racemic ibuprofen after 102 h, whereas EA and EAC showed only 1.2 and 1.4% conversion in the same condition, respectively. The EAPC approach increases both loading and stability of LP, and the combination of EAPC with the surfactant addition can be employed for efficient enzymatic reactions in organic solvents.

Thermal Degradation Kinetics Analysis of Ethylene-Propylene Copolymer and EP-1-Hexene Terpolymer.

LLDPE is a less crystalline polymer with vast industrial and domestic applications. It is imperative to understand the synthesis, processing conditions, and thermal degradation mechanism of the co- as well as terpolymers. This paper reports the in-situ synthesis and thermal degradation studies of the ethylene-propylene copolymer and ethylene-propylene-1-hexene terpolymer and its nanocomposite with ZnAL LDH sheets. The 1-hexene dosing during the in-situ process influenced the product yield and immensely affected the thermal stability of the resultant polymer. One milliliter 1-hexene in-situ addition increased the product yield by 170 percent, while the temperature at 10 percent weight loss in TGA was dropped by about 60 °C. While only 0.3 weight percent ZnAL LDH addition in the terpolymer improved the thermal stability by 10 °C. A master plot technique and combined kinetics analysis (CKA) were deployed to access the thermal degradation mechanism of the synthesized polymers.

Erratum: Efficacy of Cereal-based Oral Nutrition Supplement on Nutritional Status, Inflammatory Cytokine Secretion and Quality of Life in Cancer Patients Under Cancer Therapy.

[This corrects the article on p. 55 in vol. 25, PMID: 32266180.].

Efficacy of Cereal-based Oral Nutrition Supplement on Nutritional Status, Inflammatory Cytokine Secretion and Quality of Life in Cancer Patients Under Cancer Therapy.

A rapid increase in cancer incidence accompanied by aging population requires evidence-based supportive cancer care practices. Cancer therapies often accompany adverse events which induce malnutrition and declined quality of life. We conducted an 8-week non-randomized clinical trial to evaluate efficacy of cereal-based oral nutritional supplement (ONS) intervention on nutritional status, quality of life and inflammatory responses in cancer patients undergoing cancer therapy with 5% < weight loss. The study included 34 pateints (24 in control group, 10 in intervention group) with 15 drop-outs. ONS used in this intervention contained 0.5% arabinoxylan-rich fermented rice bran powder and 5.5% black rice powder as active ingredients in a regular cereal-based formula. Results showed that ONS intervention for 8 weeks did not show significant improvement in blood biomarkers of nutritional status or patient-generated subjective global assessment scores. However, 8-week of intervention showed reduced interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-1ß secretion in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells while IL-12p70 level was increased. For health-related quality of life (HRQoL) indices, emotional functioning and fatigue symptoms were improved after 4 weeks only in the intervention group although no difference was found at week 8. These results suggest that ONS intervention may improve chronic inflammatory status and HRQoL indices (at week 4) in cancer patients receiving treatments.

Enzyme precipitate coating of pyranose oxidase on carbon nanotubes and their electrochemical applications.

Pyranose oxidase (POx), which doesn't have electrically non-conductive glycosylation moiety, was immobilized on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) via three different preparation methods: covalent attachment (CA), enzyme coating (EC) and enzyme precipitate coating (EPC). CA, EC and EPC of POx on CNTs were used to fabricate enzymatic electrodes for enzyme-based biosensors and biofuel cells. Improved enzyme loading of EPC resulted in 6.5 and 4.5 times higher activity per weight of CNTs than those of CA and EC, respectively. After 34 days at room temperature, EPC retained 65% of initial activity, while CA and EC maintained 9.2% and 26% of their initial activities, respectively. These results indicate that precipitation and crosslinking steps of EPC have an important role in maintaining enzyme activity. To demonstrate the feasibility of POx-based biosensors and biofuel cells, the enzyme electrodes were prepared using CA, EC, and EPC samples. In the case of biosensor, the sensitivities of the CA, EC, and EPC electrodes without BQ were measured to be 0.27, 0.76 and 3.7mA/M/cm2, while CA, EC and EPC electrode with BQ showed 25, 25, and 60mA/M/cm2 of sensitivities, respectively. The maximum power densities of biofuel cells using CA, EC and EPC electrodes without BQ were 41, 47 and 53µW/cm2, while CA, EC and EPC electrodes with BQ showed 260, 330 and 500µW/cm2, respectively. The POx immobilization and stabilization via the EPC approach can lead us to develop continuous glucose monitoring biosensors and high performing biofuel cells.

Entrapping cross-linked glucose oxidase aggregates within a graphitized mesoporous carbon network for enzymatic biofuel cells.

This paper reports a novel method for producing glucose oxidase-nanocomposites by entrapping cross-linked glucose oxidase (GOx) aggregates within a graphitized mesoporous carbon (GMC) network. Entrapment was achieved by utilizing the strong self-aggregation tendency of GMC in aqueous buffer solution to form carbon networks. Using confocal microscopy and TEM, GOx-GMC nanocomposites were visualized. The electrochemical properties of GOx-GMC nanocomposites were studied by means of cyclic voltammograms, chronoamperometric and potentiostatic tests. Results therefrom suggested that the GOx-GMC nanocomposites offer a high electrical conductivity with the maximum electron transfer rate constant estimated at 5.16±0.61s(-1). Furthermore, thermally treating the GOx-GMC nanocomposite and GOx aggregates at 60°C for four hours, both samples maintained 99% of their initial activity, while the free GOx were completely deactivated. These performances suggested that our nanocomposite structure offered both improved electrochemical performance and stability by combining the high electrical conductivity offered by the GMC network with the high enzyme loading and stability offered by the cross-linked GOx aggregates. The GOx-GMC nanocomposite's electrochemical activity towards glucose oxidation was also investigated by using an enzymatic biofuel cell without artificial mediators, producing a power density of up to 22.4µWcm(-2) at 0.24V.

Precipitated and chemically-crosslinked laccase over polyaniline nanofiber for high performance phenol sensing.

The present study aims at fabricating a laccase (LAC) based amperometric biosensor for detection of phenolic compounds. LAC was immobilized into the porous matrix of polyaniline nanofibers (PANFs) in a three-step process, consisting of enzyme adsorption, precipitation, and crosslinking (EAPC). Immobilized LAC on PANF in the form of EAPC was highly active and stable when compared to control samples of 'enzyme adsorption (EA)' and 'enzyme adsorption and crosslinking (EAC)' samples. For example, the activity of EAPC was 19.7 and 15.1 times higher than those of EA and EAC per unit weight of PANF, respectively. After 6days at room temperature, EAPC maintained 100% of its initial activity, while EA and EAC retained only 7.7% and 11% of their initial activities, respectively. When the samples were subjected to the heat treatment at 60°C over 3h, EAPC maintained 74% of its initial activity, while EA and EAC retained around 1% of their initial activities, respectively. To demonstrate the feasible application of EAPC in biosensors, the enzyme electrodes were prepared and used for detection of phenolic compounds, which are environmentally hazardous chemicals. The sensitivities of biosensors with EA, EAC, and EAPC were 20.3±5.9, 26.6±5.4 and 518±11µAmM(-1)cm(-2), respectively. At 50°C for 5h, EAPC electrode maintained 80% of its initial sensitivity, while EA and EAC electrode showed 0% and 19% of their initial sensitivities, respectively. Thus, LAC-based biosensor using EAPC protocol with PANFs showed a great promise for developing a highly sensitive and stable biosensor for detection of phenolic compounds.

Enzyme adsorption, precipitation and crosslinking of glucose oxidase and laccase on polyaniline nanofibers for highly stable enzymatic biofuel cells.

Enzymatic biofuel cells have many great features as a small power source for medical, environmental and military applications. Both glucose oxidase (GOx) and laccase (LAC) are widely used anode and cathode enzymes for enzymatic biofuel cells, respectively. In this paper, we employed three different approaches to immobilize GOx and LAC on polyaniline nanofibers (PANFs): enzyme adsorption (EA), enzyme adsorption and crosslinking (EAC) and enzyme adsorption, precipitation and crosslinking (EAPC) approaches. The activity of EAPC-LAC was 32 and 25 times higher than that of EA-LAC and EAC-LAC, respectively. The half-life of EAPC-LAC was 53 days, while those of EA-LAC and EAC-LAC were 6 and 21 days, respectively. Similar to LAC, EAPC-GOx also showed higher activity and stability than EA-GOx and EAC-GOx. For the biofuel cell application, EAPC-GOx and EAPC-LAC were applied over the carbon papers to form enzyme anode and cathode, respectively. In order to improve the power density output of enzymatic biofuel cell, 1,4-benzoquinone (BQ) and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) were introduced as the electron transfer mediators on the enzyme anode and enzyme cathode, respectively. BQ- and ABTS-mediated enzymatic biofuel cells fabricated by EAPC-GOx and EAPC-LAC showed the maximum power density output of 37.4 µW/cm(2), while the power density output of 3.1 µW/cm(2) was shown without mediators. Under room temperature and 4°C for 28 days, enzymatic biofuel cells maintained 54 and 70% of its initial power density, respectively.