Assembly of protein-polysaccharide complexes for delivery of bioactive ingredients: A perspective paper.

Protein-polysaccharide complexes can be created in various ways (physical mixing, enzymatic crosslinking, chemical crosslinking and Maillard reaction), and diverse protein-polysaccharide complexes are generally grouped into non-covalent and covalent ones. Delivery systems constructed through assembly of protein-polysaccharide complexes (DSAPC) consist of emulsion-based delivery systems, capsule-based delivery systems, molecular complexes, nanogels, core-shell particles, composite nanoparticles as well as micelles. DSAPC are effective delivery vehicles in enhancing overall efficacy of bioactive ingredients, and DSAPC may possess multiple advantages over other delivery vehicles in bioactive ingredient delivery. However, designing and applying DSAPC are still faced with some challenges like low loading of bioactive ingredients. Efforts are required to reconsider and improve efficiency of DSAPC in many aspects such as controlled release and targeted delivery. Based on more comprehensive and deeper understandings DSAPC can be designed more rationally for delivery of bioactive ingredients.