title: Physicochemical properties and antioxidant activity of chitosan from the blowfly Chrysomya megacephala larvae.
abstract: In the present study, we extracted the chitosan from the larvae of blowfly Chrysomya megacephala, a new source of insect chitosan, using chemical methods. We evaluated the physical properties of the blowfly chitosan using a variety of approaches, including preliminary color-change identification, molecular weight determination, elemental analysis (EA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), solid-state (13)C cross-polarization and magic-angle-spinning nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((13)C CP/MAS NMR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Its antioxidant property was examined through 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging assays. The results showed that the molecular weight of the blowfly chitosan (501 kDa) was lower than that of the commercial chitosan (989 kDa), and its degree of deacetylation (DDA) (87.9-89.6%) was also higher than that of the commercial chitosan (83.8-85.8%). Furthermore, the blowfly chitosan exhibited excellent antioxidant activity and its IC50 value was 1.2 mg/ml. Therefore, the blowfly larvae could be a novel alternative source of chitosan and might be used as a natural antioxidant.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Biological Control/Institute of Entomology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510275, PR China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yanyan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Guren
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007814:Larva; D008970:Molecular Weight; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D048271:Chitosan
keywords: Antioxidant activity; Chitosan characteristics; Chrysomya megacephala