Aerogels based on proteins extracted from plant sources: Different production methodologies

Aerogels based on protein offer an exciting and biodegradable solution for the delivery of proteins and nutrients in food supplements, and they can also be used as carriers for drug delivery. Comparing freeze drying with supercritical drying and five different protein sources (mallow leaves, sugar beet leaves, faba beans, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds), it is observed that aerogels obtained by supercritical drying from mallow leaves and sugar beet leaves show a good homogeneous porosity, higher adsorption capacity (3.48 % after 48 h), and higher surface areas (127.2 and 259 m²/g). Consequently, these aerogels were chosen to conduct the impregnation of α-tocopherol (α-TOC), which was selected as a model drug to explore the feasibility of utilizing this aerogel for drug delivery. The amount of α-TOC loaded through the supercritical impregnation technique is approximately 0.5 mg_α-TOC/mg_aerogel for both the sugar beet and mallow aerogels. From the dissolution test, both aerogels allow a prolonged release of about 24 hours with respect to the pure α-TOC that occurs in 1 hour. By adjusting the pH value of the starting aqueous solution, the solubility of the protein in water was increased to obtain a homogeneous porosity dispersion.