Interaction of Aqueous Bovine Serum Albumin with Silica Aerogel Microparticles: Sorption Induced Aggregation.

Attila Forgács,József Kalmár,István Fábián,Madalina Ranga

doi:10.3390/ijms23052816

Attila Forgács, József Kalmár + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23052816

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Abstract

Mesoporous silica aerogels have a wide range of potential applications in biotechnology, the food industry, pharmacy and medicine. Understanding the nature of the interactions of biomolecules with these porous nanostructured materials is essential for achieving optimum performance in the targeted applications. In this study, the well-characterized bovine serum albumin (BSA) was chosen as a model protein to probe protein–aerogel interactions in the solution phase. Aqueous BSA was mixed with suspended silica aerogel microparticles, and the colloid system was monitored on-line by UV–vis spectrophotometry and turbidimetry. The global mathematical analysis of the time-resolved data reveals that the fast sorption of the protein on the aerogel microparticles follows a multistep binding mechanism. The extensive sorption of the protein eventually induces the aggregation of the covered aerogel due to the alteration of the electrical double layer of the particles. The interaction of BSA and silica aerogel is the strongest between pH = 4 and 5, because their native surface charges are the opposite in this pH range, as indicated by their respective zeta potentials.

Highlights

Mesoporous silica aerogels are known for their wide range of potential applications in biotechnology and medicine, mainly as enzyme and drug carriers and tissue scaffolds [1–5]
TheThe pristine aerogelstructure were determined mesoporous of unimodalby pore distribution is typical(Figure for silica aer‐The mesoporous structure of unimodal pore size distribution is typical for silica aerogel
Try data revealed that the interaction of aqueous bovine serum albumin (BSA) with suspended silica aerogel miparticles

Summary

Introduction

Mesoporous silica aerogels are known for their wide range of potential applications in biotechnology and medicine, mainly as enzyme and drug carriers and tissue scaffolds [1–5]. The advanced applications generate increasing demand for understanding the nature of the interactions of these nanostructured materials with biomolecules. This is essential for increasing their effectiveness and assessing their safety [6]. The increasing demand for nanostructured materials in biomedicine- and biotechnology-related applications resulted in the development of advanced aerogels, such as cross-linked polysaccharides, hybrids and composites that outperform the archetypical silica [2,3]. For understanding the fundamental principles of biomolecule–aerogel interactions, the well-characterized silica aerogel is a reasonable choice as a representative model material

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