Online

Hou, Yifan

Nutrition and Food Sciences

2020

M.S.

Tissue adhesives have been widely used in surgical procedures. Compared to traditional surgical sutures, tissue adhesives provide fast bonding experiences and full closure of wounds. However, current tissue adhesives are mostly fossil-based synthetic products. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore the use of natural polymers in tissue adhesives. Whey is a low-end byproduct of cheese making. Whey protein consists of a group of small globular proteins. They can exhibit adhesive properties if their structures are modified by physical or chemical means. The objectives of this study were to investigate the formulation and functional properties of whey protein based tissue adhesive with an antimicrobial agent, totarol. Whey protein isolate (WPI) solutions (25-33% protein) were mixed with different levels (0.1%-0.3%, v/v) of totarol. The total plate counts and yeast and mold counts in the mixtures were negative except the control and the low dosage of totarol. The lap-shear bonding strength was tested after the WPI-totarol solutions were mixed with the crosslinking agent. The lap-shear bonding strength of the optimal tissue adhesive was about 20 kPa, which is comparable to that of a commercial BioGlue®. The microstructures of the mixtures were also examined by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).