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Development and evaluation of bioinspired pH-responsive sericin–chitosan-based hydrogel for controlled colonic delivery of PETase: Harnessing PETase-triggered degradation of microplastics
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Researchers developed a novel hydrogel system made from sericin and chitosan that delivers the plastic-degrading enzyme PETase directly to the colon, where ingested microplastics tend to accumulate. The pH-responsive hydrogel protected the enzyme through the acidic stomach environment and released it in the alkaline conditions of the lower gut. Early testing showed the system could break down PET microplastics, offering a potential new approach for addressing microplastic accumulation in the digestive tract.
The gravity of threats posed by microplastic pollution to the environment cannot be overestimated. Being ubiquitous in the living environment, microplastics reach humans through the food chain causing various hazardous effects. Microplastics can be effectively degraded by PETase enzymes. The current study reports, for the first time, a hydrogel-encapsulated, bioinspired colonic delivery of PETase. A free radical polymerization-assisted hydrogel system was synthesized from sericin, chitosan, and acrylic acid using N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide as a crosslinker and ammonium persulfate as an initiator. The hydrogel was characterized with FTIR, PXRD, SEM, and thermal analysis to confirm the development of a stabilized hydrogel system. The hydrogel showed 61 % encapsulation efficiency, maximum swelling, and cumulative PETase release (96 %) at pH 7.4. The mechanism of PETase release exhibited the Higuchi pattern of release with an anomalous transport mechanism. SDS-PAGE analysis confirmed the preservation of the post-release structural integrity of PETase. The released PETase exhibited concentration- and time-dependent degradation of polyethylene terephthalate in vitro. The developed hydrogel system exhibited the intended features of a stimulus-sensitive carrier system that can be efficiently used for the colonic delivery of PETase.
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Researchers immobilized a modified PETase enzyme onto silica using different linker peptides and tested its ability to break down PET microplastics, finding that linker peptide design significantly influenced enzyme activity and reusability — key parameters for practical application in wastewater treatment.
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Researchers engineered a gut bacterium to produce an enzyme that breaks down PET nanoparticles. In lab-grown human intestinal cells and in mice with colon inflammation induced by nanoplastics, cells and mice given the engineered strain took up less nanoPET, and the mice had less gut inflammation and a gut bacteria mix closer to that of unexposed mice.
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Researchers examined how PET micro- and nanoplastics interact with pancreatin, a digestive enzyme, and found that the enzyme caused surface changes and chemical leaching from the plastic particles. Using spectroscopic and molecular docking techniques, they mapped how the plastics and enzyme bind together, forming a protein corona. The study suggests that digestive processes may alter microplastics in ways that could affect both their behavior in the body and their impact on gut bacteria.
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Researchers demonstrated a proof-of-concept approach in which mammalian cells were loaded with enzyme-containing microcapsules capable of degrading PET nanoplastics inside the cells. The encapsulated PET hydrolase enzymes maintained their activity even in the acidic environment of cellular compartments and successfully broke down PET nanoparticles that the cells had absorbed. The study opens a novel line of research into using enzymatic approaches to address nanoplastic accumulation within living tissues.
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