Figure 5. Cholesterol-binding capacities of WSC1-5, CTS0 and cellulose in vitro.

The mixture of WSC (or chitosan) and the cholesterol micellar solution was incubated for 2 h in a 37°C shaker bath and then centrifuged at 23,294 ×g for 20 min at 37°C. The amount of binding was calculated as the amount of cholesterol in the supernatant of the substrate blank subtracted from the amount in the supernatant of the sample. The amount of cholesterol was determined by the total cholesterol assay kit. The binding capacity of WSC was calculated as milligrams of bound cholesterol per gram of WSC. Cellulose was used as a positive control, while the micellar solution without WSC was used as a substrate blank. Data are expressed as the mean ± SD from triplicate experiments. Different small letters next to values indicate significant differences (p < 0.05).