Recent advancements in encapsulation of chitosan-based enzymes and their applications in food industry

Abstract

Enzymes are readily inactivated in harsh micro-environment due to changes in pH, temperature, and ionic strength. Developing suitable and feasible techniques for stabilizing enzymes in food sector is critical for preventing them from degradation. This review provides an overview on chitosan (CS)-based enzymes encapsulation techniques, enzyme release mechanisms, and their applications in food industry. The challenges and future prospects of CS-based enzymes encapsulation were also discussed. CS-based encapsulation techniques including ionotropic gelation, emulsification, spray drying, layer-by-layer self-assembly, hydrogels, and films have been studied to improve the encapsulation efficacy (EE), heat, acid and base stability of enzymes for their applications in food, agricultural, and medical industries. The smart delivery design, new delivery system development, and in vivo releasing mechanisms of enzymes using CS-based encapsulation techniques have also been evaluated in laboratory level studies. The CS-based encapsulation techniques in commercial products should be further improved for broadening their application fields. In conclusion, CS-based encapsulation techniques may provide a promising approach to improve EE and bioavailability of enzymes applied in food industry.

Highlights

• Enzymes play a critical role in food industries but susceptible to inactivation.

• Chitosan-based materials could be used to maintain the enzyme activity.

• Releasing mechanisms of enzymes from encapsulators were outlined.

• Applications of encapsulated enzymes in food fields was discussed.

Keywords:

• Chitosan
• encapsulation
• enzymes
• food applications
• releasing modes
• review

Conflict of interest

All authors declared that they have no conflicts of interest related to this study.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Hongcai Zhang and Miaomiao Feng: investigation, visualization, and writing—original draft. Jianxiong Xu and Yanyun Zhao: review and editing. Hongcai Zhang, Jianxiong Xu, Yuan Liu, Yan Wu, and Yapeng Fang: conceptualization, resources, supervision, project administration, and writing—review & editing.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by a grant from China Nature Science Foundation (32172346) and Shanghai Natural Science Foundation (19ZR1422900).