Preparation and Characterization of Mg-Doped Calcium Phosphate-Coated Phycocyanin Nanoparticles for Improving the Thermal Stability of Phycocyanin

Abstract

Phycocyanin (PC) is a blue-colored, pigment-protein complex with unique fluorescence characteristics. However, heat leads to PC fading and fluorescence decay, hampering its widespread application. To improve the thermal stability of PC, we induced the in situ mineralization of calcium phosphate (CaP) on the PC surface to prepare PC@Mg-CaP. The nanoparticles were characterized using transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometry, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The results showed that PC@Mg-CaP was spherical, and the nanoparticle size was less than 200 nm. The shell of PC@Mg-CaP was composed of amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP). The study suggested that CaP mineralization significantly improved the thermal stability of PC. After heating at 70 °C for 30 min, the relative concentration of PC@Mg-CaP with a Ca/P ratio = 2 was 5.31 times higher than that of PC. Furthermore, the Ca/P ratio was a critical factor for the thermal stability of PC@Mg-CaP. With decreasing Ca/P, the particle size and thermal stability of PC@Mg-CaP significantly increased. This work could provide a feasible approach for the application of PC and other thermal-sensitive biomolecules in functional foods requiring heat treatment.

Pickering emulsions stabilized with a spirulina protein–chitosan complex for astaxanthin delivery

“…26 With the increased CS ratio, the C-N stretching of SP located at the characteristic peak of 1452 shifted to 1432 cm −1 , and the stretching intensity increased significantly. 27 The stretching intensity of the characteristic peak of the amide I band of SP located at 1661 cm −1 was significantly reduced after the addition of CS, and the characteristic peak of the amide II band located at 1537 cm −1 was shifted to 1577, which might be the interaction between CS and the hydrophobic amino acid of SP. Referring to the results of the fluorescence spectra (Fig.…”

Porous Polylactide Microparticles as Effective Fillers for Hydrogels

“…Different methods for obtaining C-PC-containing liposomes [29], santosomes [30], hyalurosomes [31,32], chitosomes [33], microcapsules [34], nanoparticles [35,36], hydrogels [37][38][39], gel beads [40,41] and structured phycocyanin-loaded micro/nanofibrous [42] have been described in the literature.…”

A review of recent strategies to improve the physical stability of phycocyanin

“…This phenomenon was related to the dense structure of the phycocyanin/alginate/chitosan microcapsules. In situ mineralization of calcium phosphate (CAP) on the surfaces of phycocyanin was used to prepare the phycocyanin@Mg-CAP particles, which significantly improved the thermal stability of the encapsulated phycocyanin ( Li et al, 2022 ).…”