Produção Nacional
Revisado por pares
Oligochitosan Synthesized by Cunninghamella elegans, a Fungus from Caatinga (The Brazilian Savanna) Is a Better Antioxidant than Animal Chitosan
2021; Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute; Volume: 27; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.3390/molecules27010171
ISSN1433-1373
AutoresWeslley de Souza Paiva, Francisco Ernesto de Souza Neto, Moacir Fernandes Queiroz, Lucas Alighieri Neves Costa Batista, Hugo Alexandre Oliveira Rocha, Anabelle Camarotti de Lima Batista,
Tópico(s)Protein Hydrolysis and Bioactive Peptides
ResumoAnimal chitosan (Chit-A) is gaining more acceptance in daily activities. It is used in a range of products from food supplements for weight loss to even raw materials for producing nanoparticles and hydrogel drug carriers; however, it has low antioxidant activity. Fungal oligochitosan (OChit-F) was identified as a potential substitute for Chit-A. Cunninghamella elegans is a fungus found in the Brazilian savanna (Caatinga) that produces OligoChit-F, which is a relatively poorly studied compound. In this study, 4 kDa OChit-F with a 76% deacetylation degree was extracted from C. elegans. OChit-F showed antioxidant activity similar to that of Chit-A in only one in vitro test (copper chelation) but exhibited higher activity than that of Chit-A in three other tests (reducing power, hydroxyl radical scavenging, and iron chelation). These results indicate that OChit-F is a better antioxidant than Chit-A. In addition, Chit-A significantly increased the formation of calcium oxalate crystals in vitro, particularly those of the monohydrate (COM) type; however, OChit-F had no effect on this process in vitro. In summary, OChit-F had higher antioxidant activity than Chit-A and did not induce the formation of CaOx crystals. Thus, OChit-F can be used as a Chit-A substitute in applications affected by oxidative stress.
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