Applying the Taguchi Method for Optimized Fabrication of a-Lactalbumin Nanoparticles as Carrier in Drug Delivery and Food Science

Protein nannoparticles fabrication as well as characterization have been extensively studied in our previous works as suitable carrier for drug delivery and food science, since they are biodegradable, non-toxic and non antigenic. The objective of the present study was to optimize the fabrication of "-lactalbumin nanoparticle by applying the Taguchi robust method which is a statistical approach to overcome the limitation of the factorial and fractional factorial experiments. The process variables were pH, temprature and agitation speed. The optimal levels of the different factors for the nanoparticle production based on coacervation method were pH 2.5, temperature 50°C and 750 rpm for agitation speed. The nanoparticle size at the determined condition was less than 220 nm. The mechanistic of the optimum conditions for preparing "-lactalbumin nanoparticles and their characterization as a drug delivery vehicles are strongly discussed.