Stability of papain – pectin system under high pressure and its application for treatment of skin injury

Actually the information related to enzyme activity and stability under high pressure is limited and is not defined for the case of papain. However, it is important for enzyme application in spray. The few reports show that the high pressure can induce structural and catalytic changes in the case of other hydrolases. The inactivation partial or complete, reversible or irreversible, as well as enzyme activation has been reported. Previously we reported the capacity of pectin-papain films to accelerate the skin wound healing. The papain-pectin gel applied in spray may be other form to wound treatment. The goal of this work was to study the stability of the papain (vegetable protease) immobilized on pectin gel (natural biopolymer) at 65°C under high pressure of air and nitrogen. The concentrations of pectin and enzyme were selected by means of enzyme activity detection on systems with pectin at 1–10% and papain at 0.1–0.9% and monitoring of film formation at shot time. It was observed that increasing of pectin concentration led to significant decreasing of gel drying time. The papain immobilization on pectin gel increased enzyme stability at 65°C under atmospheric pressure and high pressure (up to 90 psi). Pressure increasing to 50 psi led to increase of enzyme activity. Higher enzyme stability was detected on nitrogen contained system. Favorable effects of pectin-papain gel application were observed on the healing of the skin lesions performed on rabbits.