Methotrexate for Drug Repurposing as an Anti-Aggregatory Agent to Mercuric Treated α-Chymotrypsinogen-A.

Protein aggregation is related to numerous pathological conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. In our study, we have shown that an already existing FDA-approved drug; methotrexate (MTX) can be reprofiled on preformed α-chymotrypsinogen A (α-Cgn A) aggregates. The zymogen showed formation of aggregates upon interaction with mercuric ions, with increasing concentration of Hg2Cl2 (0-150 µM). The hike in ThT and ANS fluorescence concomitant with blue shift, bathochromic shift and the hyperchromic effect in the CR absorbance, RLS and turbidity measurements, substantiate the zymogen ß-rich aggregate formation. The secondary structural alterations of α- Cgn A as analyzed by CD measurements, FTIR and Raman spectra showed the transformation of native ß-barrel conformation to ß-inter-molecular rich aggregates. The native α- Cgn A have about 30% α-helical content which was found to be about 3% in presence of mercuric ions suggesting the formation of aggregates. The amorphous aggregates were visualized by SEM. On incubation of Hg2Cl2 treated α- Cgn A with increasing concentration of the MTX resulted in reversing aggregates to the native-like structure. These results were supported by remarkable decrease in ThT and ANS fluorescence intensities and CR absorbance and also consistent with CD, FTIR, and Raman spectroscopy data. MTX was found to increase the α-helical content of the zymogen from 3 to 15% proposing that drug is efficient in disrupting the ß-inter-molecular rich aggregates and reverting it to native like structure. The SEM images are in accordance with CD data showing the disintegration of aggregates. The most effective concentration of the drug was found to be 120 µM. Molecular docking analysis showed that MTX molecule was surrounded by the hydrophobic residues including Phe39, His40, Arg145, Tyr146, Thr151, Gly193, Ser195, and Gly216 and conventional hydrogen bonds, including Gln73 (bond length: 2.67Å), Gly142 (2.59Å), Thr144 (2.81Å), Asn150 (2.73Å), Asp153 (2.71Å), and Cys191 (2.53Å). This investigation will help to find the use of already existing drugs to cure protein misfolding-related abnormalities.

In Situ Monitoring of Protein Unfolding/Structural States under Cold High-Pressure Stress.

Biopharmaceutical formulations may be compromised by freezing, which has been attributed to protein conformational changes at a low temperature, and adsorption to ice-liquid interfaces. However, direct measurements of unfolding/conformational changes in sub-0 °C environments are limited because at ambient pressure, freezing of water can occur, which limits the applicability of otherwise commonly used analytical techniques without specifically tailored instrumentation. In this report, small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and intrinsic fluorescence (FL) were used to provide in situ analysis of protein tertiary structure/folding at temperatures as low as -15 °C utilizing a high-pressure (HP) environment (up to 3 kbar) that prevents water from freezing. The results show that the α-chymotrypsinogen A (aCgn) structure is reasonably maintained under acidic pH (and corresponding pD) for all conditions of pressure and temperature tested. On the other hand, reversible structural changes and formation of oligomeric species were detected near -10 °C via HP-SANS for ovalbumin under neutral pD conditions. This was found to be related to the proximity of the temperature of cold denaturation of ovalbumin (TCD ∼ -17 °C; calculated via isothermal chemical denaturation and Gibbs-Helmholtz extrapolation) rather than a pressure effect. Significant structural changes were also observed for a monoclonal antibody, anti-streptavidin IgG1 (AS-IgG1), under acidic conditions near -5 °C and a pressure of ∼2 kbar. The conformational perturbation detected for AS-IgG1 is proposed to be consistent with the formation of unfolding intermediates such as molten globule states. Overall, the in situ approaches described here offer a means to characterize the conformational stability of biopharmaceuticals and proteins more generally under cold-temperature stress by the assessment of structural alteration, self-association, and reversibility of each process. This offers an alternative to current ex situ methods that are based on higher temperatures and subsequent extrapolation of the data and interpretations to the cold-temperature regime.

Trypsinogen and chymotrypsinogen: the mysterious hyper-reactivity of selected cysteines is still present after their divergent evolution.

An enigmatic and never described hyper-reactivity of most of the cysteines resident in the reduced, molten globule-like intermediate of a few proteins has been recently discovered. In particular, all ten cysteines of chymotrypsinogen showed hundred times increased reactivity against hydrophobic reagents. A single cysteine (Cys1) was also found thousand times more reactive toward GSSG, making speculate that a single glutathionylation could represent the primordial event of its oxidative folding. In the present study, we compare these kinetic properties with those present in trypsinogen taken in its reduced, molten globule-like intermediate and identify the origin of these unusual properties. Despite the divergent evolution of these two proteins, the different amount of disulfides and the very different 3D localization of three disulfides, their hyper-reactivity toward hydrophobic thiol reagents and disulfides is very similar. Mass spectrometry identifies two cysteines in trypsinogen, Cys148 and Cys197, 800 times more reactive toward GSSG than an unperturbed protein cysteine. These results point toward a stringent and accurate preservation of these peculiar kinetic properties during a divergent evolution suggesting some important role, which at the present can only be hypothesized. Similar extraordinary hyper-reactivity has been found also in albumin, ribonuclease, and lysozyme confirming that it cannot be considered a kinetic singularity of a single protein. Interestingly, the very flexible and fluctuating structures like those typical of the molten globule status prove capable of enabling sophisticated actions typical of enzymes such as binding to GSSG with relevant specificity and high affinity (KD  = 0.4 mm) and accelerating the reaction of its cysteines by thousands of times.

Quantifying protein aggregation kinetics using electrospray differential mobility analysis.

Protein aggregation is a critical concern in bioprocessing, where its presence can result in serious adverse interactions in clinical end-use applications. In this study, an aerosol-based technique, electrospray differential mobility analysis (ES-DMA), was used to quantify thermally-induced protein aggregation kinetics for bovine serum albumin (BSA) and α-chymotrypsinogen A (α-chymo), employing a new methodology to modify the solution for compatibility with the electrospray process. Results are compared orthogonally with asymmetrical-flow field-flow fractionation (AF4), a hydrodynamic separation technique with UV detection. Measurements were conducted over a range of protein concentrations and temperatures. Both techniques successfully resolved the protein monomer and dimer populations, allowing quantification of monomer loss. BSA and α-chymo exhibited second and first order kinetics, respectively, confirming different limiting steps for the two species. The Arrhenius equation yielded activation energies for BSA of (240 ±â€¯20) kJ mol-1 and (190 ±â€¯10) kJ mol-1 by ES-DMA and AF4, respectively. The rates determined by ES-DMA were equal to or slightly faster than those measured by AF4, so instrumental differences were analyzed to identify potential sources of bias. An important factor may be the applicable concentration range for each method; notably, AF4 operates at the mg mL-1 level, while ES-DMA is sensitive at µg mL-1 and therefore requires much smaller samples for analysis (typically several µL are injected). The limitations of each method are detailed in the discussion and demonstrate the importance of orthogonal measurement strategies for the analysis of protein kinetics. ES-DMA provides a potentially useful alternative to size exclusion chromatography to screen the stability of formulation conditions for protein therapeutics; neither ES-DMA nor AF4 rely on column interactions for separation.

Solution thermodynamic approach to analyze protein stability in aqueous solutions.

Protein thermal stability was analyzed by a solution thermodynamic approach. The small energetic differences in hydrogen-bonds (HB) among amino acid resdues and water molecules were proved to be amplified by the large number of HB involved to bring about the equilibrium shift from folding to unfolding of proteins. In aqueous solutions, water activity (Aw) plays a key role in protein stability. Therefore, Aw was precisely determined for various solutions and its relationship with solution structure was discussed. Wyman-Tanford analysis based on Aw showed linear regressions, without exception, between protein unfolding-ratio and Aw for lysozyme, ribonuclease A, and α-chymotrypsinogen A in various solutions with sugars, osmolytes, alcohols, and protein denaturant. From this linear regression, the free energy difference, ΔΔG, for a protein in a solution and in pure water, was easily obtained. Protein stability in a solution was proved to be determined by a balance between hydration and solute-binding effects to the protein and also by solution structure, which indirectly affects the hydrophobic interaction in a protein molecule. Temperature dependence of HB on protein stability suggested its interrelationship with hydrophobic interaction.

Enhanced-Fluidity Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry for Intact Protein Separation and Characterization.

Recent advances in the analysis of proteins have increased the demand for more efficient techniques to separate intact proteins. Enhanced-fluidity liquid chromatography (EFLC) involves the addition of liquefied CO2 to conventional liquid mobile phases. The addition of liquefied CO2 increases diffusivity and decreases viscosity, which inherently leads to a more efficient separation. Herein, EFLC is applied to hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) stationary phases for the first time to study the impact of liquefied CO2 to the chromatographic behavior of proteins. The effects of liquefied CO2 on chromatographic properties, charge state distributions (CSDs), and ionization efficiencies were evaluated. EFLC offered improved chromatographic performance compared to conventional liquid chromatography (LC) methods including a shorter analysis time, better peak shapes, and higher plate numbers. The addition of liquefied CO2 to the mobile phase provided an electrospray ionization (ESI)-friendly and "supercharging" reagent without sacrificing chromatographic performance, which can be used to improve peptide and protein identification in large-scale application.

Kirkwood-Buff-Derived Alcohol Parameters for Aqueous Carbohydrates and Their Application to Preferential Interaction Coefficient Calculations of Proteins.

The CHARMM36 carbohydrate parameter set did not adequately reproduce experimental thermodynamic data of carbohydrate interactions with water or proteins or carbohydrate self-association; thus, a new nonbonded parameter set for carbohydrates was developed. The parameters were developed to reproduce experimental Kirkwood-Buff integral values, defined by the Kirkwood-Buff theory of solutions, and applied to simulations of glycerol, sorbitol, glucose, sucrose, and trehalose. Compared to the CHARMM36 carbohydrate parameters, these new Kirkwood-Buff-based parameters reproduced accurately carbohydrate self-association and the trend of activity coefficient derivative changes with concentration. When using these parameters, preferential interaction coefficients calculated from simulations of these carbohydrates and the proteins lysozyme, bovine serum albumin, α-chymotrypsinogen A, and RNase A agreed well with the experimental data, whereas use of the CHARMM36 parameters indicated preferential inclusion of carbohydrates, in disagreement with the experiment. Thus, calculating preferential interaction coefficients from simulations requires using a force field that accurately reproduces trends in the thermodynamic properties of binary excipient-water solutions, and in particular the trend in the activity coefficient derivative. Finally, the carbohydrate-protein simulations using the new parameters indicated that the carbohydrate size was a major factor in the distribution of different carbohydrates around a protein surface.

Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles, its characterization, and chaperone-like activity in the aggregation inhibition of α-chymotrypsinogen A.

Consumption of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) has been increased many folds due to its antimicrobial actions resulting in its widespread incorporation into a wide range of biomedical and consumer products. Still, enough research is needed to clearly understand the effect of these nanoparticles on the conformations of important macromolecules like proteins under different pathophysiological conditions. Pointing towards the situation, we carefully designed an in vitro study to elucidate the effect of green AgNPs on the aggregation pattern of α-chymotrypsinogen A at a human pathological body temperature. We observed that the B-AgNPs inhibited the aggregation in αCgn-A in a concentration-dependent manner showing maximum inhibition at 30 µg/ml above which the effect of aggregation inhibition was reduced as evident at 40 and 50 µg/ml concentrations of B-AgNPs. Further, in our in vitro analysis, we found that the B-AgNPs of lower sizes has potential chaperone-like activity at pathological body temperature, which can be used as a component of the drug to prevent protein aggregation after further verification in animal models.

Parallel chromatography and in situ scattering to interrogate competing protein aggregation pathways.

Protein aggregation can follow different pathways, and these can result in different net aggregation rates and kinetic profiles. α-chymotypsinogen A (aCgn) was used as a model system to quantitatively and qualitatively assess an approach that combines ex situ size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) with in situ laser scattering (LS) to monitor aggregation vs. time. Aggregation was monitored for a series of temperatures and initial dimer (ID) levels for starting conditions that were primarily (> 97%) monomer, and under initial-rate conditions (limited to low monomer conversion-less than 20% monomer mass loss), as these conditions are of most to interest to many pharmaceutical and biotechnology applications. SEC results show that modest decreases of ID levels can greatly reduce monomer loss rates, but do not affect the effective activation energy for aggregation. The normalized aggregation rates determined from LS were typically ∼ 1 order of magnitude higher than the corresponding rates from SEC. Furthermore, LS signals vs. time became variable and highly nonlinear with decreasing ID level, temperature, and/or total protein concentration. Temperature-cycling LS experiments showed this corresponded to conditions where dimer/oligomer "seeding" was suppressed, and high levels of reversible oligomers ("prenuclei") were formed prior to "nucleation" and growth of stable aggregates. In those conditions, aggregation rates inferred from LS and SEC are greatly different, as the techniques monitor different stages of the aggregation process. Overall, the results illustrate an approach for interrogating non-native protein aggregation pathways, and potential pitfalls if one relies on a single method to monitor aggregation-this holds more generally than the particular methods here.

Control of the adsorption properties of alginate - guar gum matrix functionalized with epichlorohydrin through the addition of different flexible chain polymers as toll for the chymotrypsinogen isolation.

This work addresses the obtaining and characterization of alginate-guar gum matrix, cross-linked with epichlorohydrin in the presence of different flexible chain polymers: polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl pyrrolidine and Pluronic® F68. These matrixes were used for the adsorption of chymotrypsinogen and showed an increasing uptake in presence of the flexible chain polymer in the sense: none < Pluronic 68 < polyvinyl pyrrolidine < polyvinyl alcohol. The adsorption process was found to follow a first order kinetics model and was not influenced by the polymer type. It was found that Freundlich model was more suitable for our data. Polyvinyl alcohol and polyvinyl pyrrolidine addition increase the adsorption capacity of the original bed due to an increment in the rigidity of the gel caused by the formation of hydrogen bound between the polysaccharides and synthetics polymers.

Adsorption characteristics of various proteins on a metal surface in the presence of an external electric potential.

The effect of the properties of a protein on its adsorption to a metal surface in the presence of external electric potential was investigated. Protein adsorption processes at different surface potentials were measured for fifteen types of proteins using an in-situ ellipsometry. The tested proteins were classified into three groups, based on the amount of protein that was adsorbed as a function of the surface potential: In First group of proteins, an increasing trend for the amount adsorbed with a more positive surface potential was found; The amount adsorbed of α-chymotrypsinogen A and ribonuclease A (Second group) were roughly constant and independent of the applied surface electric potentials; In Third group, the amount adsorbed decreased with increasing surface potential. This protein classification was correlated with the isoelectric points of the proteins (First group: ≤9.3; Second group: 9.3-10; Third group: >10). Increasing the pH positively and negatively shifted the surface potentials, allowing ß-lactoglobulin (First group) and lysozyme (Third) to become adsorbed, respectively. The surface potential range for protein adsorption was also markedly shifted depending on the metal substrate type. These findings were interpreted based on the electrostatic interactions among the protein, surface hydroxyl groups, and the applied external electric field.

A molecular modeling based method to predict elution behavior and binding patches of proteins in multimodal chromatography.

Multimodal (MM) chromatography provides a powerful means to enhance the selectivity of protein separations by taking advantage of multiple weak interactions that include electrostatic, hydrophobic and van der Waals interactions. In order to increase our understanding of such phenomena, a computationally efficient approach was developed that combines short molecular dynamics simulations and continuum solvent based coarse-grained free energy calculations in order to study the binding of proteins to Self Assembled Monolayers (SAM) presenting MM ligands. Using this method, the free energies of protein-MM SAM binding over a range of incident orientations of the protein can be determined. The resulting free energies were then examined to identify the more "strongly bound" orientations of different proteins with two multimodal surfaces. The overall free energy of protein-MM surface binding was then determined and correlated to retention factors from isocratic chromatography. This correlation, combined with analytical expressions from the literature, was then employed to predict protein gradient elution salt concentrations as well as selectivity reversals with different MM resin systems. Patches on protein surfaces that interacted strongly with MM surfaces were also identified by determining the frequency of heavy atom contacts with the atoms of the MM SAMs. A comparison of these patches to Electrostatic Potential and hydrophobicity maps indicated that while all of these patches contained significant positive charge, only the highest frequency sites also possessed hydrophobicity. The ability to identify key binding patches on proteins may have significant impact on process development for the separation of bioproduct related impurities.

Predicting Protein Interactions of Concentrated Globular Protein Solutions Using Colloidal Models.

Protein interactions of α-chymotrypsinogen A (aCgn) were quantified using light scattering from low to high protein concentrations. Static light scattering (SLS) was used to determine the excess Rayleigh ratio (Rex) and osmotic second virial coefficients (B22) as a function of pH and total ionic strength (TIS). Repulsive (attractive) protein-protein interactions (PPI) were observed at pH 5 (pH 7), with decreasing repulsions (attractions) upon increasing TIS. Simple colloidal potential of mean force models (PMF) that account for short-range nonelectrostatic attractions and screened electrostatic interactions were used to fit model parameters from data for B22 vs TIS at both pH values. The parameters and PMF models from low-concentration conditions were used as the sole input to transition matrix Monte Carlo simulations to predict high concentration Rex behavior. At conditions where PPI are repulsive to slightly attractive, experimental Rex data at high concentrations could be predicted quantitatively by the simulations. However, accurate predictions were challenging when PPI were strongly attractive due to strong sensitivity to changes in PMF parameter values. Additional simulations with higher-resolution coarse-grained molecular models suggest an approach to qualitatively predict cases when anisotropic surface charge distributions will lead to overall attractive PPI at low ionic strength, without assumptions regarding electrostatic "patches" or multipole expansions.

The digestive system of the stony coral Stylophora pistillata.

Because hermatypic species use symbiotic algal photosynthesis, most of the literature in this field focuses on this autotrophic mode and very little research has studied the morphology of the coral's digestive system or the digestion process of particulate food. Using histology and histochemestry, our research reveals that Stylophora pistillata's digestive system is concentrated at the corals' peristome, actinopharynx and mesenterial filaments (MF). We used in-situ hybridization (ISH) of the RNA transcript of the gene that codes for the S. pistillata digestive enzyme, chymotrypsinogen, to shed light on the functionality of the digestive system. Both the histochemistry and the ISH pointed to the MF being specialized digestive organs, equipped with large numbers of acidophilic and basophilic granular gland cells, as well as acidophilic non-granular gland cells, some of which produce chymotrypsinogen. We identified two types of MF: short, trilobed MF and unilobed, long and convoluted MF. Each S. pistillata polyp harbors two long convoluted MF and 10 short MF. While the short MF have neither secreting nor stinging cells, each of the convoluted MF display gradual cytological changes along their longitudinal axis, alternating between stinging and secreting cells and three distinctive types of secretory cells. These observations indicate the important digestive role of the long convoluted MF. They also indicate the existence of novel feeding compartments in the gastric cavity of the polyp, primarily in the nutritionally active peristome, in the actinopharynx and in three regions of the MF that differ from each other in their cellular components, general morphology and chymotrypsinogen excretion.

A first principle particle mesh method for solution SAXS of large bio-molecular systems.

This paper will show that the solution small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) intensity of globular and membrane proteins can be efficiently and accurately computed from molecular dynamics trajectories using 3D fast Fourier transforms (FFTs). A suitable particle meshing interpolation, similar to the one used in smooth particle mesh Ewald for electrostatic energies and forces, was combined with a uniform solvent density FFT padding scheme to obtain a convenient SAXS spectral resolution. The CPU time scaling of the method, as a function of system size, is highly favorable and its application to large systems such as solutions of solvated membrane proteins is computationally undemanding. Differently from other approaches, all contributions from the simulation cell are included. This means that the subtraction of the buffer from the solution scattering intensity is straightforward and devoid of artifact due to ad hoc definitions of proximal and distal solvent intensity contributions.

Aggregate structure, morphology and the effect of aggregation mechanisms on viscosity at elevated protein concentrations.

Non-native aggregation is a common issue in a number of degenerative diseases and during manufacturing of protein-based therapeutics. There is a growing interest to monitor protein stability at intermediate to high protein concentrations, which are required for therapeutic dosing of subcutaneous injections. An understanding of the impact of protein structural changes and interactions on the protein aggregation mechanisms and resulting aggregate size and morphology may lead to improved strategies to reduce aggregation and solution viscosity. This report investigates non-native aggregation of a model protein, α-chymotrypsinogen, under accelerated conditions at elevated protein concentrations. Far-UV circular dichroism and Raman scattering show structural changes during aggregation. Size exclusion chromatography and laser light scattering are used to monitor the progression of aggregate growth and monomer loss. Monomer loss is concomitant with increased ß-sheet structures as monomers are added to aggregates, which illustrate a transition from a native monomeric state to an aggregate state. Aggregates grow predominantly through monomer-addition, resulting in a semi-flexible polymer morphology. Analysis of aggregation growth kinetics shows that pH strongly affects the characteristic timescales for nucleation (τn) and growth (τg), while the initial protein concentration has only minor effects on τn or τg. Low-shear viscosity measurements follow a common scaling relationship between average aggregate molecular weight (Mw(agg)) and concentration (σ), which is consistent with semi-dilute polymer-solution theory. The results establish a link between aggregate growth mechanisms, which couple Mw(agg) and σ, to increases in solution viscosity even at these intermediate protein concentrations (less than 3w/v %).

A two level hierarchical model of protein retention in ion exchange chromatography.

Predicting protein retention in ion exchange chromatography (IEX) from first principles is a fascinating perspective. In this work a two level hierarchical modeling strategy is proposed in order to calculate protein retention factors. Model predictions are tested against experimental data measured for Lysozyme and Chymotrypsinogen A in IEX columns as a function of ionic strength and pH. At the highest level of accuracy Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations in explicit water are used to determine the interaction free energy between each of the two proteins and the IEX stationary phase for a reference pH and ionic strength. At a lower level of accuracy a linear response model based on an implicit treatment of solvation and adopting a static protein structure is used to calculate interaction free energies for the full range of pHs and ionic strengths considered. A scaling coefficient, determined comparing MD and implicit solvent simulations, is then introduced in order to correct the linear response model for errors induced by the adoption of a static protein structure. The calculated free energies are then used to compute protein retention factors, which can be directly compared with experimental data. The possibility to introduce a third level of accuracy is explored testing the predictions of a semiempirical model. A quantitative agreement between the predicted and measured protein retention factors is obtained using the coupled MD-linear response models, supporting the reliability of the proposed approach. The model allows quantifying the electrostatic, van der Waals, and conformational contributions to the interaction free energies. A good agreement between experiments and model is obtained also using the semiempirical model that, although requiring parameterization over higher level models or experimental data, proves to be useful in order to rapidly determine protein retention factors across wide pH and ionic strength ranges as it is computationally inexpensive.

Interactions of Multimodal Ligands with Proteins: Insights into Selectivity Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations.

Fundamental understanding of protein-ligand interactions is important to the development of efficient bioseparations in multimodal chromatography. Here we employ molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to investigate the interactions of three different proteins--ubiquitin, cytochrome C, and α-chymotrypsinogen A, sampling a range of charge from +1e to +9e--with two multimodal chromatographic ligands containing similar chemical moieties--aromatic, carboxyl, and amide--in different structural arrangements. We use a spherical harmonic expansion to analyze ligand and individual moiety density profiles around the proteins. We find that the Capto MMC ligand, which contains an additional aliphatic group, displays stronger interactions than Nuvia CPrime ligand with all three proteins. Studying the ligand densities at the moiety level suggests that hydrophobic interactions play a major role in determining the locations of high ligand densities. Finally, the greater structural flexibility of the Capto MMC ligand compared to that of the Nuvia cPrime ligand allows for stronger structural complementarity and enables stronger hydrophobic interactions. These subtle and not-so-subtle differences in binding affinities and modalities for multimodal ligands can result in significantly different binding behavior towards proteins with important implications for bioprocessing.

Cooperative Unfolding of Residual Structure in Heat Denatured Proteins by Urea and Guanidinium Chloride.

The denatured states of proteins have always attracted our attention due to the fact that the denatured state is the only experimentally achievable state of a protein, which can be taken as initial reference state for considering the in vitro folding and defining the native protein stability. It is known that heat and guanidinium chloride (GdmCl) give structurally different states of RNase-A, lysozyme, α-chymotrypsinogen A and α-lactalbumin. On the contrary, differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) and isothermal titration calorimetric measurements, reported in the literature, led to the conclusion that heat denatured and GdmCl denatured states are thermodynamically and structurally identical. In order to resolve this controversy, we have measured changes in the far-UV CD (circular dichroism) of these heat-denatured proteins on the addition of different concentrations of GdmCl. The observed sigmoidal curve of each protein was analyzed for Gibbs free energy change in the absence of the denaturant (ΔG0X→D) associated with the process heat denatured (X) state ↔ GdmCl denatured (D) state. To confirm that this thermodynamic property represents the property of the protein alone and is not a manifestation of salvation effect, we measured urea-induced denaturation curves of these heat denatured proteins under the same experimental condition in which GdmCl-induced denaturation was carried out. In this paper we report that (a) heat denatured proteins contain secondary structure, and GdmCl (or urea) induces a cooperative transition between X and D states, (b) for each protein at a given pH and temperature, thermodynamic cycle connects quantities, ΔG0N→X (native (N) state ↔ X state), ΔG0X→D and ΔG0N→D (N state ↔ D state), and

Protein adsorption, desorption, and aggregation mediated by solid-liquid interfaces.

Adsorption of proteins to solid-fluid interfaces is often empirically found to promote formation of soluble aggregates and larger, subvisible, and visible particles, but key stages in this process are often difficult to probe directly. Aggregation mediated by adsorption to water-silicon oxide (SiOx) interfaces, akin to hydrated glass surfaces, was characterized as a function of pH and ionic strength for alpha-chymotrypsinogen (aCgn) and for a monoclonal antibody (IgG1). A flow cell permitted neutron reflectivity for protein layers adsorbed to clean SiOx surfaces, as well as after successive "rinse" steps. Aggregates recovered in solution after gently "rinsing" the surface were characterized by neutron scattering, microscopy, and fluorescence spectroscopy. IgG1 molecules oriented primarily "flat" against the SiOx surface, with the primary protein layer desorbed to a minimal extent, whereas a diffuse overlayer was easily rinsed off. aCgn molecules were resistant to desorption when they appeared to be unfolded at the interface, but were otherwise easily removed. For cases where strong binding occurred, protein that did desorb was a mixture of monomer and small amounts of HMW aggregates (for aCgn) or subvisible particles (for IgG1). Changes in adsorption and/or unfolding with pH indicated that electrostatic interactions were important in all cases.