ABSTRACT
There is a growing demand for developing suitable and more efficient extraction of active compounds from the plants and ultrasound is one of these novel methodologies. Moreover, the experimental set up to reach an appropriate condition for an optimum yield is demanding and time consuming. In the present study, Taguchi L9 orthogonal design was applied to optimize the process parameters (output power, time, temperature and pulse mode) for ultrasound assisted extraction of anthocyanins from red cabbage and the concluding yield of anthocyanin was measured by pH differential method. The statistical analysis revealed that the most important factors contributing to the extraction efficiency were time, temperature and power, respectively and the optimum condition was at 30 min, 15 °C and 100 W which could result the maximum anthocyanin yield of about 20.9 mg/L. The theoretical result was confirmed experimentally by carrying out the trials at the optimum condition and evaluating the actual yield.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: One of the major challenges in the field of vaccine design is choosing immunogenic antigens which can induce a proper immune response against complex targets like malignant cells or recondite diseases caused by protozoan parasites such as leishmaniasis. The aim of this study was to find a way to construct artificial liposome-based cells containing fragments of target's cell membrane. This structure not only mimics the real biological properties of proteins in the cell membrane of target cells, but also may induce the required immune responses, which culminate in eradication of target cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Five different techniques have been investigated to engraft the plasma membrane's vesicles (PMVs) derived from a characterized Leishmania parasite into liposomes. The most efficient method was tested again on the PMVs derived from well-known breast cancer cell line SK-BR-3. The percentage of engraftment was determined by two-color flowcytometry after staining the engrafted dioctadecyl-3,3,3'3'-tetramethylindocarbocyanine DiI-labeled liposomes with FITC-labeled PMVs. RESULTS: Among the investigated techniques, freeze-drying method with 91±2% and 90±3% of engraftment for Leishmania and SK-BR-3 derived PMVs, respectively, showed superiority over the other methods. In addition, after 9 weeks storage in refrigerator, freeze-dried fused particles kept their original size (660±350 nm) and fusion efficiency (94±3%). CONCLUSION: Among five different engraftment techniques, freeze-drying is preferred over the other methods due to its simplicity, more fusion efficiency and stability of produced particles during storage.
