Preparation, characterization and toxicology properties of α- and β-chitosan Maillard reaction products nanoparticles.

In this study, β-chitosan (CS) Maillard reaction (MR) NPs was prepared to improve the water solubility of CS NPs. The α- and β-CS MR was firstly induced by high intensity ultrasound-assisted (UA) water-bath heating at 80°C for 8h. The α- and β-CS Maillard reaction products (MRPs NPs were then prepared by ionic gelation method between the positively charged primary amino groups of CS and the negatively charged groups of sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP). The α- and β-CS MRPs NPs had particle size of 42.49 and 61.74nm, and Zeta-potential of 27.43 and 35.13mV, respectively. The prepared α- and β-CS MRPs NPs was characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)-differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to verify whether α- and β-CS MRPs has been incorporated into the CS NPs. The α- and β-CS MRPs NPs exhibited no significant difference (p>0.05) in antioxidant activity compared with α- and β-CS MRPs at the same concentration based on reducing power, DPPH radical scavenging activity, and ORAC values. The cytotoxicity test of α- and β-CS MRPs NPs showed good cell viability (70.86-99.16%) of human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (HLMVEC) at the concentration range from 0.12 to 1mg/mL, and fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate (FITC)-α- and β-CS MRPs NPs maintained the morphological characteristics of living cells. These results showed that α- and β-CS MRPs NPs can be used as water-soluble antioxidant substances for applications in food and other fields.