ABSTRACT
Levan is an exopolysaccharide of fructose primarily linked by À-(2¨6) glycosidic bonds with some À-(2¨1) branched chains. Due to its chemical properties, levan has possible applications in both the food and pharmaceutical industries. Bacillus subtilis is a promising industrial levan producer, as it ferments sucrose and has a high levan-formation capacity. A new strain of B. subtilis was recently isolated from Japanese food natto, and it has produced levan in large quantities. For future pharmaceutical applications, this study aimed to investigate the effects of levan produced by B. subtilis Natto, mainly as potential hypoglycemic agent, (previously optimized with a molecular weight equal to 72.37 and 4,146 kDa) in Wistar male rats with diabetes induced by streptozotocin and non-diabetic rats and to monitor their plasma cholesterol and triacylglycerol levels. After 15 days of experimentation, the animals were sacrificed, and their blood samples were analyzed. The results, compared using analysis of variance, demonstrated that for this type of levan, a hypoglycemic effect was not observed, as there was no improvement of diabetes symptoms during the experiment. However, levan did not affect any studied parameters in normal rats, indicating that the exopolysaccharide can be used for other purposes.
Subject(s)
Animals , Rats , Bacillus subtilis/isolation & purification , Streptozocin/analysis , Fructans/analysis , Fructose/analysis , Hypoglycemia , Sucrose/analysis , Methodology as a Subject , Rats, WistarABSTRACT
Levan was used as agent in the synthesis of new colon-specific polymeric matrix together with Eudragit® FS 30 D. Eudragit® FS 30 D films incorporated with levan were made by casting process and characterized to: water vapour transmission, sweeling index, differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric. The levan increased the films permeability (p < 0.001) however did not influenced in the sweeling index of the formulations (p > 0.05). The thermal analyses of the films indicated a glass transition temperature approximate at 47°C and thermal decomposition at 400°C. The results indicated that there is potential for using such site-specificity blend as pharmaceutical coating material.
Levana foi utilizada na síntese de novo material polimérico cólon-específico conjuntamente com o Eudragit® FS 30 D. Filmes de Eudragit® FS 30 D aditivados de levana foram feitos pelo método de "casting process" e caracterizados quanto à transmissão de vapor de água, índice de intumescimento, calorimetria diferencial de varredura e termogravimetria. A levana aumentou a permeabilidade dos filmes (p < 0,001), entretanto não influenciou no índice de intumescimento das formulações (p > 0,05). As análises térmicas dos filmes indicaram uma temperatura de transição vítrea aproximada de 47°C e temperatura de decomposição de 400°C. Os resultados indicaram que há potencial de uso desta nova blenda sítio-específica como material de revestimento farmacêutico.