Effects of Pyrophosphate Ions on Protein Adsorption onto Calcium Hydroxyapatite

Abstract

The effects of pyrophosphate ions (PP: P2O7(4-)) on the adsorption of proteins onto calcium hydroxyapatite (Hap) were examined using typical proteins of bovine serum albumin (BSA: isoelectric point (iep) = 4.7, molecular mass (M(s)) = 67 200 Da, acidic protein), myoglobin (MGB: iep = 7.0, M(s) = 17 800 Da, neutral protein), and lysozyme (LSZ: iep = 11.1, M(s) = 14,600 Da, basic protein). The UV and CD measurements determined that both the secondary and the tertiary structures of protein molecules do not vary in the presence of PP. The adsorption of BSA was strongly depressed by the addition of PP in all the methods with changing the order of PP addition. Even if BSA was pre-adsorbed on the Hap surface, PP replaced BSA molecules by strong preferential adsorption onto Hap to reduce the amounts of adsorbed BSA. A similar effect was observed with the adsorption of MGB. On the other hand, the amount of adsorbed LSZ (n(LSZ)) was increased with an increase in the concentration of PP, and the n(LSZ) value showed a maximum point in each adsorption isotherm. This fact was explained by a compression of the electric double layer (EDL) around each LSZ molecule by PP. This compression of the EDL induced the reduction of lateral electrostatic repulsions between charged LSZ molecules on the Hap surface and enhanced the formation of closed-packed monolayers to raise the n(LSZ) value. However, since the number of PPs around a LSZ molecule is decreased by an increase in the LSZ concentration in each system, the thickness of the EDL may be increased. Hence, n(LSZ) was reduced again after the maximum point in each system. Tripolyphosphate (TPP: P3O10(5-)) ions exhibited similar effects on the adsorption behaviors of all proteins, but a much more pronounced effect was observed on the LSZ system. TPP with a higher eletronegativity shielded the EDL more highly than PP to increase the n(LSZ) value. The results of the zeta potential for all the protein systems supported the modes of protein adsorption discussed.