ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Food Chemistry
This article is part of the Research TopicFoodborne Functional Proteins and Bioactive Peptides: Structure, Functionality and ProcessingView all articles
A Double-Network Fish Gelatin/Sodium Alginate Composite Hydrogel as a Carrier for the Sustained Release of a Soy-Derived Osteogenic Peptide
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Trauma Orthopedics, Yantaishan Hospital Affiliated to Binzhou Medical University, Yantai, China
- 2China Agricultural University College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, Beijing, China
- 3Shandong University Marine College, Weihai, China
- 4College of Life Science, Yantai University, Yantai, China
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Osteoporosis, a prevalent metabolic bone disease, poses a significant challenge for bone repair in aged populations.Soy-derived osteogenic peptide (SOP) holds promise but its clinical translation is hampered by rapid enzymatic degradation and poor oral bioavailability, representing a major challenge that necessitates the development of a protective delivery system. To address this, we developed a novel composite hydrogel based on fish gelatin and sodium alginate (SA/FG) as an oral delivery vehicle to overcome these limitations. Systematic characterization revealed that the SA/FG formulation offers distinct advantages: the incorporation of an optimal amount of SA significantly enhanced the mechanical strength and stability of the hydrogel, addressing the common weakness of single-network gelatin hydrogels, while maintaining a high water content (~90%) and a superior rehydration capacity (83.65% in distilled water). In a glucocorticoid-induced zebrafish osteoporosis model, the SOP-loaded SA/FG hydrogel significantly increased skull bone mass by 120.17% and improved larval swimming behavior, markedly outperforming the free SOP group. This study presents the first report of an SA/FG composite hydrogel for effective oral delivery of an osteogenic peptide. The system demonstrates great potential as a functional food or supplement for preventing and treating osteoporosis, offering an innovative strategy to enhance peptide stability and bioavailability through a biocompatible, double-network carrier.
Keywords: Composite hydrogel, Soy peptide, Osteoporosis, targeted delivery, carrier
Received: 28 Oct 2025; Accepted: 28 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Gong, Liu, Huang, Wei, Ma, Chen, Gan and Ge. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Junbo Ge
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