Abstract
Development of stabilized enzyme was attempted for cosmetic applications. Papain, a proteolytic enzyme, was stabilized through conjugation with a soluble carbohydrate biopolymer, SC-glucan$^{TM}$ . With a novel structure of the conjugation site, stability of the enzyme was significantly enhanced such that more than 90% of the initial activity retained after a month storage at 45$^{\circ}C$, while no activity were detected in native enzyme or enzyme simply mixed with SC-glucan$^{TM}$ after the storage. Conjugation with SC-glucan$^{TM}$ not only extended the half-life of the enzyme on storage at higher temperature, but was also found to protect enzymes against some components contained in cosmetic products for skin care. Cosmetic lotion containing 1 % papain conjugate was more effective and less irritative in exfoliating stratum corneum of human skin than the lotion containing 5% lactic acid, one of the current popular exfoliating agents.gents.