Potential applications of chitosan nanoparticles as novel support in enzyme immobilization

Abstract

Chitosan is an attractive natural biopolymer from renewable resources with the presence of reactive amino and hydroxyl functional groups in its structure. Due to the good biocompatibility of chitosan, it can be used in magnetic-field assisted drug delivery, enzyme or cell immobilization and many other industrial applications. In the past decade, nanotechnology has been a considerable research interest in the area of preparation of immobilized enzyme carriers. This study looks at characteristics and applications of chitosan and chitosan nanoparticles and their potentials as suitable supports for enzyme immobilization. Results indicated that activity of immobilized enzymes and performance of enzyme immobilization onto chitosan nanoparticles are higher than chitosan macro and microparticles. As compared to other biopolymers nanoparticles, application of chitosan nanoparticles to immobilize enzymes strongly increases stability of immobilized enzymes and their easy separability from the reaction mixture at the end of the biochemical process. © 2012 Science Publication.