Mechanism of Hair Curling via Laccase-Assisted Tyrosine Grafting Using BSA as a Model Protein

• Published in: Journal of natural fibers Vol. 20; no. 1; pp. 1 - 12
• Main Authors: Li, Yu, Su, Jing, G. Castro, Tarsila, Cavaco-Paulo, Artur
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis 24-04-2023; Taylor & Francis Ltd; Taylor & Francis Group
• Subjects: Amines; Bovine serum albumin; BSA; Chemical bonds; Crosslinking; Cysteine; Disulfide bonds; Fibers; Grafting; Hair; Hair curling; Keratin; Laccase; Molecular dynamics; Monomers; Peptides; Proteins; Reducing agents; Science & Technology; Serum albumin; Thiols; Tyrosine; Tyrosine grafting; Washing; 分子动力学; 卷发; 漆酶; 牛 血清蛋白; 牛血清蛋白; 酪氨酸接枝
• ISSN: 1544-0478; 1544-046X
• DOI: 10.1080/15440478.2023.2187506

Commercial hair perming uses strong reducing agents and harms hair fiber's quality even human health. In this study, tyrosine is adopted as a cross-linking agent between thiols and/or amines as the shape-changing of hair involves the breakage of disulfide bonds and the rearrangement of new bonds between keratin molecules. To investigate the mechanism of keratin cross-linking, bovine serum albumin (BSA) is used as a model protein. Disulfide bonds in BSA are successfully reduced by L-cysteine to provide free thiols. Four new cross-linked peptides are formed inter- or intra-BSA monomers, indicating that tyrosine can be adopted as a cross-linking agent not only between amines but also between thiols. Moreover, curling of Asian hair is conducted using tyrosine as a perming agent by the laccase-assisted reaction. The optimized operational conditions are hair with L-cysteine pre-treatment (50.0 mM) followed by laccase-assisted grafting with 3.0 mM tyrosine. The reshaped hair performed a better perming performance than commercial perming product before washing, although a lower perming efficiency after washing. The curling process could be accomplished without strength loss of hair fibers and with a blow-drier easily. Hence, this new methodology may lead to the development of a gentle and user-friendly approach in the hair care industry.