Structured surfaces protein adsorption

Salad dressings and mayonnaise can be stabilized by ionic surfactants, which provide some electrostatic stabilization as described by DLVO theory, or by nonionic surfactants which provide a viscoelastic surface coating. The protein-covered oil (fat) droplets tend to be mostly stabilized by steric stabilization (rather than electrostatic stabilization) [34,126,129], particularly at very high levels of surface protein adsorption, in which case the adsorption layer can include not just protein molecules but structured protein globules (aggregates). In some cases, lipid liquid crystal layers surround and stabilize the oil droplets, such as the stabilization of O/W droplets by egg-yolk lecithins in salad dressing [34,135]. 

Bale, M.D., Danielson, S.J., Daiss, J.L., Goppert, K.E., and Sutton, R.C. (1989) Influence of copolymer composition on protein adsorption and structural rearrangements at the polymer surface. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 132, 176-1874. 

A change in the environment of a protein molecule, e.g. adsorption from aqueous solution onto a sorbent surface, may lead to a partial breakdown of its ordered structure, resulting in an increase of conformational entropy. This is a fundamental difference between protein adsorption and the adsorption of flexible polymers, for which attachment to a surface implies a loss of conformational entropy. 

The sorbent materials are supplied as finely dispersed colloidal particles, whose surfaces are smooth. Some of their properties are presented in Table 3. The sorbents cover different combinations of hydrophobicity and sign of the surface charge. Thus, the model systems presented allow systematic investigation of the influences of hydrophobicity, electric charge, and protein structural stability on protein adsorption. 

Szleifer I (1997) Protein adsorption on surfaces with grafted polymers a theoretical approach. Biophys J 72 595-612 Tanford C (1973) The hydrophobic effect. John Wiley Sons, Inc., Hoboken Van Dulm P, Norde W, Lyklema J (1981) Ion participation in protein adsorption at solid surfaces. J Colloid Interf Sci 82 77-82 Zoungrana T, Findenegg GH, Norde W (1997) Structure, stability and activity of adsorbed ensymes. J Colloid Interf Sci 190 437-448 Zoungrana T, Norde W (1997) Thermal stability and enzymatic activity of a-chymotrypsin adsorbed on polystyrene surfaces. Colloid Surf B 9 157-167... 

In contrast, on the surface of the amino-containing polymeric materials, protonated amino groups introduced in a small proportion under physiological conditions, destroy their surrounding hydrogen bonds to produce, here and there, gaps in the network [127, 128]. Thus, the network structures are considered to become more or less unstable. As a consequence, the residence time of protein molecules trapped by these defective networks will be shorter than in the case of polyHEMA or cellulose. On the surface of these amino-containing materials, reversible protein adsorption and desorption, and also replacement (Vroman effect) - or even protein rejection - will become possible. 

An A-B-A-type block copolymer (HEMA-St-HEMA) was shown to form a microdomain structure and to exhibit excellent blood compatibility in both in vitro and ex vivo examinations. For instance, the luminal surface of the HEMA-STY coated vascular graft was bare without detectable thrombi after 372-day implantation in dog carotid aortas. The excellent blood compatibility was discussed by taking results of the unique mode of protein adsorption of HEMA-STY surface into account. 

Specific formulation strategies need to be employed for macromolecule compounds. An excellent review of protein stability in aqueous solutions has been published by Chi et al. (92). In addition to solution stability of proteins and peptides, aerosolization may result in significant surface interfacial destabilization of these compounds if no additional stabilization excipients are added. This is due to the fact that protein molecules are also surface active and adsorb at interfaces. The surface tension forces at interfaces perturb protein structure and often result in aggregation (92). Surfactants inhibit interface-induced aggregation by limiting the extent of protein adsorption (92). 

It is recommended that any reader seriously interested in protein adsorption obtain Teaching Aids for Macromolecular Structures 28), which is commercially available for about 20.00. These aids clearly show the dramatic potential of surface protein structural visualization for the development of hypotheses of protein-surface interactions. 

The protein s intrinsic properties (size, molecular weight, 3-D structure, surface site density, conformational stability) are all very important and must be fully characterized and understood in order to interpret adsorption data. 

Random polypeptides have traditionally been synthesized by copolymerization of amino acid NCAs. Methods for the synthesis and application of random copolymers have been extensively reviewed (e.g., ref1221), and thus only a single example is given here. A second class of random polypeptides includes organized polymeric assemblies that incorporate bioactive sequences and/or structures. Such polymers have been developed for modulation of protein-ligand interactions/231 protein adsorption to surfaces/241 and cell adhesion/25-281 Several examples for the synthesis of these polymeric assemblies are provided below. 

Rejection of protein adsorption to the outermost grafted surface is attributed to a steric hinderance effect due to the tethered chains. A grafted surface in contact with an aqueous medium, a good solvent of the chains, has been identified to have a diffuse structure [57,151,152]. Reversible deformation of the tethered... 

Horbett TA (1996) Proteins structure, properties, and adsorption to surfaces. In Ratner BD, Hoffman AS, Schoen FJ, Lemons JE et al (eds) Biomaterials science. Academic, San Diego... 

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