Development of a Production Method for Ficin Associates with Microand Nanoparticles of Carboxymethyl Chitosan

Micro- and nanoparticles of medium- and high-molecular-mass carboxymethyl chitosan with and without added ascorbic acid and their complexes with ficin were obtained. Associates of ficin with carboxymethyl chitosan micro- and nanoparticles were more stable than the free (soluble) enzyme. The proteolytic activity of the ficin associates was observed to decrease during incubation for seven days in Tris-HCl buffer (0.05 M) a pH 7.5 and 37°C. The catalytic ability of ficin associates with the particles synthesized with ascorbic acid was higher than that with the particles of both types of carboxymethyl chitosan obtained without it. This difference was 22 and 25% for micro- and nanoparticles of medium-molecular-mass carboxymethyl chitosan, respectively; 27 and 8%, for micro- and nanoparticles of high-molecular-mass chitosan, respectively.