Short-Time Transport Properties of Bidisperse Suspensions of Immunoglobulins and Serum Albumins Consistent with a Colloid Physics Picture.

The crowded environment of biological systems such as the interior of living cells is occupied by macromolecules with a broad size distribution. This situation of polydispersity might influence the dependence of the diffusive dynamics of a given tracer macromolecule in a monodisperse solution on its hydrodynamic size and on the volume fraction. The resulting size dependence of diffusive transport crucially influences the function of a living cell. Here, we investigate a simplified model system consisting of two constituents in aqueous solution, namely, of the proteins bovine serum albumin (BSA) and bovine polyclonal gamma-globulin (Ig), systematically depending on the total volume fraction and ratio of these constituents. From high-resolution quasi-elastic neutron spectroscopy, the separate apparent short-time diffusion coefficients for BSA and Ig in the mixture are extracted, which show substantial deviations from the diffusion coefficients measured in monodisperse solutions at the same total volume fraction. These deviations can be modeled quantitatively using results from the short-time rotational and translational diffusion in a two-component hard sphere system with two distinct, effective hydrodynamic radii. Thus, we find that a simple colloid picture well describes short-time diffusion in binary mixtures as a function of the mixing ratio and the total volume fraction. Notably, the self-diffusion of the smaller protein BSA in the mixture is faster than the diffusion in a pure BSA solution, whereas the self-diffusion of Ig in the mixture is slower than in the pure Ig solution.

Microscopic Dynamics of Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation and Domain Coarsening in a Protein Solution Revealed by X-Ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy.

While the interplay between liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) and glass formation in biological systems is highly relevant for their structure formation and thus function, the exact underlying mechanisms are not well known. The kinetic arrest originates from the slowdown at the molecular level, but how this propagates to the dynamics of microscopic phase domains is not clear. Since with diffusion, viscoelasticity, and hydrodynamics, distinctly different mechanisms are at play, the dynamics needs to be monitored on the relevant time and length scales and compared to theories of phase separation. Using x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy, we determine the LLPS dynamics of a model protein solution upon low temperature quenches and find distinctly different dynamical regimes. We observe that the early stage LLPS is driven by the curvature of the free energy and speeds up upon increasing quench depth. In contrast, the late stage dynamics slows down with increasing quench depth, fingerprinting a nearby glass transition. The dynamics observed shows a ballistic type of motion, implying that viscoelasticity plays an important role during LLPS. We explore possible explanations based on the Cahn-Hilliard theory with nontrivial mobility parameters and find that these can only partially explain our findings.

Effect of Anti-Glutamate Antibodies in Modeled Parkinsonian Syndrome.

We studied the effect of single and repeated intranasal administration of antibodies to glutamate in experimental parkinsonian syndrome induced by injections of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) to C57BL/6J mice. Intranasal administration of anti-glutamate antibodies to mice in parallel with administration of MPTP over 10 days alleviated parkinsonian symptoms (oligokinesia and rigidity). In the serum of mice injected with antibodies to glutamate and/or MPTP, the titers of autoantibodies to glutamate and dopamine were higher than in control animals receiving saline. Single intranasal administration of anti-glutamate antibodies to mice with established parkinsonian syndrome did not affect the severity of parkinsonian symptoms.

The Role of Endogenous Proteins on the Emulsification of Silicone Oils Used in Vitreoretinal Surgery.

The present work is aimed at investigating the chemicophysical properties of the interface between silicone oils (SOs) used in vitreoretinal surgery and aqueous solutions, in the presence of surfactant biomolecules. Such molecules are thought to play an important role in the formation of SO emulsions in vitrectomised eyes, in which the natural vitreous body has been replaced with a SO. In particular, we have measured the interfacial tension (IT) and the interfacial dilational viscoelasticity (DV) of the interface between SO (Siluron 1000) and serum proteins (albumin and γ-globulins) at various concentrations in a Dulbecco alkaline buffer. The equilibrium IT value is relevant for the onset of emulsification, and the DV influences the stability of an emulsion, once formed. The study is complemented by preliminary emulsification tests. The experimental results show that, when proteins are dissolved in the aqueous solution, the rheological properties of the interface change. The IT decreases significantly for physiological protein concentrations, and the DV modulus achieves high values, even for small protein concentrations. The emulsification tests confirm that, in the presence of proteins, emulsions are stable on the time scale of months. We conclude that the measured values of IT in the presence of serum proteins are compatible with the promotion of droplet formation, which, in addition, are expected to be stable against coalescence. Adsorption of biomolecules at the interface with the SO is, therefore, likely to play an important role in the generation of an emulsion in eyes subjected to vitrectomy. These findings are relevant to identify strategies to avoid or control the formation of emulsions in eyes.

Sequential modifications of glycans by linkage-specific alkylamidation of sialic acids and permethylation.

Permethylation is useful for glycosidic linkage analysis, but is often accompanied by a large proportion of by-products, especially for glycans containing sialic acids (Sia). Unlike hydroxyl groups of glycans, which are converted to stable methyl ethers by permethylation, the carboxylic acids on Sia are converted to methyl esters, which are easily reversible to carboxylate under alkaline conditions. To overcome this problem, we used linkage-specific alkylamidation to protect Sia prior to the permethylation. This method not only decreased the levels of by-products, but also enabled us to distinguish isomers of α2,3- and α2,6-Sia while simultaneously determining other glycosidic linkages.

The Next Generation of IR Spectroscopy: EC-QCL-Based Mid-IR Transmission Spectroscopy of Proteins with Balanced Detection.

We report a mid-IR transmission setup for the analysis of the protein amide I and amide II band in aqueous solutions that achieves a limit of detection as low as 0.0025 mg mL-1 (outperforming our previous results and other state-of-the-art mid-IR-based techniques by almost an order of magnitude). This large improvement is made possible by combining the latest-generation external cavity-quantum cascade laser (EC-QCL) operated at room temperature with an optimized double-beam optical setup that adjusts the path length (26 µm) to ensure robust sample handling. For minimizing the noise introduced by the high-intensity laser light source, a thermoelectrically cooled mercury cadmium telluride balanced detection module was employed. In this way, noise levels better by a factor of up to 20 were achieved compared with single-channel measurements. Characteristic spectral features of proteins with different secondary structures were successfully identified at concentrations as low as 0.1 mg mL-1. Furthermore, a highly linear response was demonstrated for concentrations between 0.05 and 10 mg mL-1. The total acquisition time of the setup can be adapted to fulfill the required sensitivity of the protein measurements and to ensure maximum flexibility for future applications. The presented setup combines high sensitivity, large optical path lengths, and short measurement times and thus outperforms previous research type EC-QCL setups as well as commercially available instruments. This opens a wide range of future applications including protein-ligand interaction studies as well as qualitative and quantitative analyses of proteins in complex matrices such as those found in up- and downstream bioprocess monitoring and similar challenging applications which can not be readily met by conventional FT-IR spectroscopy.

Mesoporous silica particles as potential carriers for protein drug delivery: protein immobilization and the effect of displacer on γ-globulin release.

The adsorption of γ-globulin was evaluated with experiments with silica particles marketed as Syloid AL1-FP (SAL), XDP-3150 (SXDP), and 244FP (SFP). The influence of pH, pore sizes, and degree of surface porosity on the extent of γ-globulin immobilization was examined. Protein adsorption on these particles was largely related to their surface porosity and pore sizes. The adsorption capacity was established to be greater with mesoporous SFP and SXDP particles at 474 and 377 mg/g, respectively, when compared to significantly low-porosity SAL (16 mg/g). Additionally, γ-globulin immobilization was favored at pH closer to iso-electric point. A key aim of this work was to better understand and improve the limited reversibility of protein adsorption. Protein desorption was found to be lower in simulated intestinal fluid (SIF) in comparison to pH 7.4 phosphate buffer (PB). The use of displacer molecules (sodium dodecyl sulfate [SDS]/Tween 80/Pluronic F127 [PF127]) promoted protein desorption from the adsorbent surface by the exchange mechanism. The PF127 provided substantial release in both studied condition but the highest release of 83% of γ-globulin from SXDP was obtained with tween 80 in PB. The released protein was analyzed with circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy which indicated that the secondary structure of desorbed γ-globulin was dependent on the pH and displacer molecule. The conformation largely remained unchanged when desorption was carried out in SIF but changed markedly in PB specially in the presence of SDS.

Polymer Composition Primarily Determines the Protein Recognition Characteristics of Molecularly Imprinted Hydrogels.

Synthetic hydrogels with the ability to recognize and bind target proteins are useful for a number of applications, including biosensing and therapeutic agent delivery. One popular method for fabricating recognitive hydrogels is molecular imprinting. A long-standing hypothesis of the field is that these molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) retain the chemical and geometric profile of their protein template, resulting in subsequent ability to recognize the template in solution. Here, we systematically determined the influence of network composition, as well as the identity, amount, and extraction of imprinting templates, on the protein binding of MIPs. Network composition (i.e. the relative number of ionizable and hydrophobic groups) explained the extent of protein adsorption in all cases. The identity and amount of imprinting template, albeit a protein or synthetic polymer (PEG) of similar molecular weight, did not significantly influence the amount of protein bound. While the purification method influenced the extent of template adsorption, it did so by chemically modifying the network (acrylamide hydrolysis, increasing the acid content by up to 21%) and not by voiding occupied MIP pores. Therefore, our results indicate that material composition determines the extent to which MIPs bind template and non-template proteins.

Facile Evaluation of Nanoparticle-Protein Interaction Based on Charge Neutralization with Pulsed Streaming Potential Measurement.

Exploration of simple and universal methods to quantitatively measure nanoparticle (NP)-protein interaction is of great importance. In this work, pulsed streaming potential (SP) measurement has been used to evaluate the interaction between NPs and proteins within microchannels. Graphene oxide (GO) and SiO2 NPs were selected to represent two kinds of NPs. Lysozyme and common blood proteins, including albumin V, γ-globulins, and fibrinogen, were used as model proteins. The linear relationship between the initial adsorption rate (S = dEr/dt) and the concentration of proteins was observed. Combined with the Hill equation, the microscopic dissociation constant (KD) and the Hill coefficient (n) between NPs and proteins were calculated based on the relationship between S and the concentration of each protein. The concentration of free proteins which have not interacted with the NPs in the NPs-protein mixture could also be measured. The influence of pH, conductivity, and ionic strengths of the incubation buffer on the interaction between GO and lysozyme was evaluated based on the constant KD. The interaction intensity between NPs and proteins was defined as charge neutralization efficiency QC, which could be calculated from the value of S. It takes only 150 s to get the whole set of data under the optimized experiment parameters. The measurement solely depends on the surface charge, no intrinsic fluorescence is required for either the NPs or the proteins, and no labeling or immobilization process is involved as well.

Agarose native gel electrophoresis of proteins.

We have developed an agarose-based native gel electrophoresis system that works for both acidic and basic proteins using histidine-MES buffer. This electrophoresis can be done in a flat-bed mode or a vertical mode. While in the flat-bed mode both acidic and basic proteins can be simultaneously analyzed, the vertical gel can only be used for either protein. We have observed that while the migration of acidic bovine serum albumin (BSA) was independent of the buffer concentration, the behavior of basic lysozyme was greatly improved at higher buffer concentration, e.g., 100 mM histidine-100 mM MES. With this buffer system, BSA, lysozyme and chymotrypsin showed expected band mobility and Adeno associated virus particle and bovine gamma globulin showed apparent basic nature of the surface properties.

Study of interaction between citrate-coated silver nanoparticles and gamma globulin using spectroscopic method.

Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Nanosecond Tracer Diffusion as a Probe of the Solution Structure and Molecular Mobility of Protein Assemblies: The Case of Ovalbumin.

Protein diffusion is not only an important process ensuring biological function but can also be used as a probe to obtain information on structural properties of protein assemblies in liquid solutions. Here, we explore the oligomerization state of ovalbumin at high protein concentrations by means of its short-time self-diffusion. We employ high-resolution incoherent quasielastic neutron scattering to access the self-diffusion on nanosecond timescales, on which interparticle contacts are not altered. Our results indicate that ovalbumin in aqueous (D2O) solutions occurs in increasingly large assemblies of its monomeric subunits with rising protein concentration. It changes from nearly monomeric toward dimeric and ultimately larger than tetrameric complexes. Simultaneously, we access information on the internal molecular mobility of ovalbumin on the nanometer length scale and compare it with results obtained for bovine serum albumin, immunoglobulin, and ß-lactoglobulin.

Formation of long-lived reactive species of blood serum proteins induced by low-intensity irradiation of helium-neon laser and their involvement in the generation of reactive oxygen species.

It was demonstrated that low-intensity radiation of helium-neon (He-Ne) laser at 632.8nm, which leads to the transition of oxygen to a singlet state, causes the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) - hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl and superoxide (hydroperoxide) radicals - in aqueous solutions. The oxygen effect - dependence of hydrogen peroxide formation on the concentration of molecular oxygen - was shown, and the participation of singlet oxygen, hydroxyl radicals and superoxide (hydroperoxide) radicals in this process was testified. Laser radiation-induced ROS in solutions of blood serum proteins, bovine serum albumin and bovine gamma-globulin, cause the formation of long-lived reactive protein species (LRPS) with a half-life of about 4h. The generation of LRPS caused by laser irradiation results in prolonged several-hour generation of ROS - hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl and superoxide radicals. As affected by LRPS, coupled radical reactions lead to conversion of dissolved molecular oxygen to hydrogen peroxide. Irradiation with light sources away from the oxygen absorption band is not attended by formation of ROS and LRPS. A consideration is provided for the possible molecular mechanisms of ROS formation under the influence of He-Ne laser irradiation, the role of proteins in their generation and the biological significance of these processes.

Different approaches to study protein films at air/water interface.

In this review classical studies on insoluble liquid monolayers formed by proteins are examined and compared. It has been focused the attention on the information that it is possible to obtain from the π-a isotherms recorded by compression of the monolayers. In recent decades new techniques have developed, mainly microscopy, that provide valuable information on the behavior and structure of fluid films. However, frequently the data are difficult to interpret and require a previous thermodynamic study of them on the basis of the surface tension (or surface pressure) as a function of the molecular area measurement. The main aim of this paper is to underline that surface balance type of Langmuir is a powerful technique since it enables to obtain information at molecular level from a macroscopic analysis. Notably, this information is revealed very interesting when it comes to studying protein films. From this point of view it has been reviewed the study methods and results for four proteins.

Characterization of fullerenol-protein interactions and an extended investigation on cytotoxicity.

Fullerenols, known as polyhydroxylated derivatives of fullerene, have attracted great attention due to their distinctive material properties and potential applications in biology and medicine. As a step toward the elucidation of basic behavior in biological systems, a variety of spectroscopic measurements as well as isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) were applied to study the interaction between fullerenol (C60(OH)44) and serum proteins (bovine serum albumin (BSA) and γ-globulins). The results of fluorescence spectra indicated that the intrinsic fluorescence of proteins could be effectively quenched by the dynamic mechanism. The affinity values of both proteins bound to fullerenol were of the same order of magnitude. Meanwhile, ITC results showed that the interaction between fullerenol and BSA was enthalpy favorable, while the interaction with γ-globulins was enthalpy unfavorable. Furthermore, fullerenol had little influence on the secondary structure of both proteins. Additional cytotoxicity tests showed that the presence of proteins attenuated the toxic effect of fullerenol on human normal gastric epithelial cell line (GES-1). Thus, the interaction between fullerenol and proteins is indispensable to evaluate the biosafety of fullerenol, which may in turn promotes the development of its biological applications.

Effective Interactions and Colloidal Stability of Bovine γ-Globulin in Solution.

Interactions and phase behavior of γ-globulins are of fundamental interest in biophysical and pharmaceutical research, as these are among the most abundant proteins in blood plasma. In this work, we report the characterization of the oligomeric state of bovine γ-globulin, the effective protein-protein interactions, and the colloidal stability in aqueous solution as a function of protein concentration and ionic strength. Classical biochemical techniques, such as size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and gel electrophoresis, together with small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering (SAXS/SANS), were employed for this study. The results show that bovine γ-globulin solutions are dominated by monomer and idiotype anti-idiotype dimer. Despite the flexibility and highly nonspherical shape of the protein, a simple model with a disk-type form factor and a structure factor of a square-well potential provide a satisfying description of the scattering data. The overall interactions are attractive and the strength decreases with increasing protein concentration, or adding buffer or salts. For higher protein volume fraction (>7%), the model would imply a strong particle-particle correlation which does not appear in the experimental data. This mismatch is most likely due to the smearing effect of the conformation change of proteins in solution. The stability of γ-globulin solutions is highly sensitive to protein concentration, ionic strength, and the type of added salts, such as NaCl, Na2SO4, and NaSCN. For solutions below 50 mg/mL and at low ionic strengths (<0.1 M), protein aggregation is most likely due to subpopulations of IgG molecules with attractive patches of complementary surface charge. This effect is reduced for higher protein concentration due to self-buffering effects. For high ionic strength (>1 M), typical salting-in (with NaSCN) and salting-out effects (with NaCl and Na2SO4) are observed. Results are further discussed in comparison with current studies in the literature on monoclonal antibodies.

Role of PAMAM-OH dendrimers against the fibrillation pathway of biomolecules.

The binding behavior of nanoparticle with proteins determines its biocompatibility. This study reports the interaction of ten different biomolecules (proteins-BSA, HSA, haemoglobin, gamma globulin, transferrin and enzymes-hog and bacillus amylase, lysozyme from chicken and human and laccases from Tramates versicolor) with a surface group hydroxylated Poly AMido AMide dendrimer (PAMAM) of generation 5. The study has utilized various spectroscopic methods like UV-vis spectroscopy, Fluorescence emission, Synchronous, 3-D spectroscopy and Circular Dichroism to detect the binding induced structural changes in biomolecules that occur upon interaction with mounting concentration of the dendrimers. Aggregation of proteins results in the formation of amyloid fibrils causing several human diseases. In this study, fibrillar samples of all ten biomolecules formed in the absence and the presence of dendrimers were investigated with Congo Red absorbance and ThT Assay to detect fibril formation, Trp Emission and 3-D scan to evaluate the effect of fibrillation on aromatic environment of biomolecules, and CD spectroscopy to measure the conformational changes in a quantitative manner. These assays have generated useful information on the role of dendrimers in amyloid fibril formation of biomolecules. The outcomes of the study remain valuable in evaluating the biological safety of PAMAM-OH dendrimers for their biomedical application in vivo.

Characterisation of the protein corona using tunable resistive pulse sensing: determining the change and distribution of a particle's surface charge.

The zeta potential of the protein corona around carboxyl particles has been measured using tunable resistive pulse sensing (TRPS). A simple and rapid assay for characterising zeta potentials within buffer, serum and plasma is presented monitoring the change, magnitude and distribution of proteins on the particle surface. First, we measure the change in zeta potential of carboxyl-functionalised nanoparticles in solutions that contain biologically relevant concentrations of individual proteins, typically constituted in plasma and serum, and observe a significant difference in distributions and zeta values between room temperature and 37 °C assays. The effect is protein dependent, and the largest difference between the two temperatures is recorded for the γ-globulin protein where the mean zeta potential changes from -16.7 to -9.0 mV for 25 and 37 °C, respectively. This method is further applied to monitor particles placed into serum and/or plasma. A temperature-dependent change is again observed with serum showing a 4.9 mV difference in zeta potential between samples incubated at 25 and 37 °C; this shift was larger than that observed for samples in plasma (0.4 mV). Finally, we monitor the kinetics of the corona reorientation for particles initially placed into serum and then adding 5 % (V/V) plasma. The technology presented offers an interesting insight into protein corona structure and kinetics of formation measured in biologically relevant solutions, i.e. high protein, high salt levels, and its particle-by-particle analysis gives a measure of the distribution of particle zeta potential that may offer a better understanding of the behaviour of nanoparticles in solution. Graphical Abstract The relative velocity of a nanoparticle as it traverses a nanopore can be used to determine its zeta potential. Monitoring the changes in translocation speeds can therefore be used to follow changes to the surface chemistry/composition of 210 nm particles that were placed into protein rich solutions, serum and plasma. The particle-by-particle measurements allow the zeta potential and distribution of the particles to be characterised, illustrating the effects of protein concentration and temperature on the protein corona. When placed into a solution containing a mixture of proteins, the affinity of the protein to the particle's surface determines the corona structure, and is not dependent on the protein concentration.

Lubrication within hip replacements - Implication for ceramic-on-hard bearing couples.

The objective of the present study is to clarify the lubrication processes within artificial joints considering the ceramic femoral heads focusing on the role of particular proteins. Two optical methods were employed; colorimetric interferometry and fluorescent microscopy. The experiments were conducted in ball-on-disc configuration, where the ball is made from ceramic (Sulox(TM), BIOLOX(®)delta) and the disc from optical glass. The measurements were realized under pure rolling, partial negative and partial positive sliding, to get a complex information about the protein film behaviour under various conditions. Moreover, two different speeds were investigated; 5.7 and 22 mm/s, respectively. The contact was lubricated by saline solutions containing albumin and γ-globulin in a ratio 2:1, while the total protein concentration was 10.5 mg/ml. Under pure rolling conditions, the film thickness gradually increases with time/rolling distance independently of material and rolling speed, while the dominant fluid constituent is albumin. In the case of negative sliding, the film formation is time/distance/speed dependent. At lower speed, both proteins contribute to film thickness; at higher speed, the effect of γ-globulin is not substantial. When the disc is faster, the character of film formation is similar to the metal component in the case of Sulox ceramic. Biolox ceramic shows a different behaviour, while for both materials, the contribution of γ-globulin increases with increasing speed. As most of the results can be well explained in terms of specific proteins, it can be concluded that the experimental approach is suitable for the investigation of protein film formation considering the ceramic materials.