Egg Yolk Antibodies and Nanotechnology Applied to Animal Health and Production

Abstract

During the past decade, the development of innovative delivery devices for different therapeutic agents has attracted the interest of many researchers. Several studies, indeed, report on the design, synthesis, and characterization of novel materials to be employed as delivery systems in the aim to improve the efficiency of a selected therapeutic agent. Hydrogels have emerged as a promising option for drug delivery system. Some of these polymeric networks are able to exhibit phase transition and changes in their equilibrium state in response to external stimuli and are known as "intelligent". This kind of materials finds application in targeted drug delivery due to the capability to respond to environmental factors includ- ing physical, chemical, and biochemical stimulus. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are other materials with unique properties that recently have been employed for intra- cellular delivery applications. To expand and optimize the use of CNTs in bio- technological areas, it is necessary their functionalization. Biomaterials including biomolecules, biopolymers, and other bionanostructures have been attached to CNTs successfully. Chitosan is a widely used biopolymer in biomaterials research since it possesses properties like being biocompatible, biodegradable, nontoxic, and ecofriendly. In the search for alternatives to antibiotics treatment, oral immu- notherapy with egg yolk immunoglobulin (IgY) is a strategy that has been inves- tigated, and it has shown to be effective against a number of gastrointestinal pathogens. However, the activity of orally administered IgY is reduced rapidly due to its sensibility to pepsin and low pH. This chapter integrates knowledge from different areas like intelligent hydrogels, different strategies for functionalization of CNTs, synthesis, and characterization of polymeric nanocomposites, and IgY protection. Finally, the applicability of hydrogel-CNTs composites in drug deliv- ery, with particular attention to the controlled release of IgY, will be discussed.