A novel lanthanide-chelate based molecularly imprinted cryogel for purification of hemoglobin from blood serum: An alternative method for thalassemia diagnosis

Abstract

Purification and analyzing of proteins is an essential means for understanding their function and diseases associated with their lack or defect. In this research, a new lanthanide-chelate based molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was synthesized for selective separation of Hemoglobin (Hb) from human serum in the presence of various interference molecules. The Hb-imprinted polymer was prepared by using complex functional monomer N-methacryloylamido antipyrine (MAAP)-Ce(III) and 2-Hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) in accordance of cryopolymerization techniques. The nonimprinted cryogel (NIP) was also prepared at same polymerization conditions in the absence of template Hb molecule. The effects of pH, initial Hb concentration, flow rate, temperature and ionic strength on the binding capacity of both imprinted and nonimprinted cryogels was investigated. The maximum binding capacity for the MIP column was found to be as 79.41 mg g−1 dry cryogel, that is four times higher than the NIP column under the optimum conditions (pH 5.0, flow rate: 1.0 mL min−1, T: 25 °C). Moreover, selectivity experiments were performed by using two interference proteins as myoglobin (Mb) and cytochrome c (Cyt-c) and the relative selectivity coefficients (k') for Hb/Mb and Hb/Cyt-c pairs were determined as 36.59 and 37.22, respectively.