Unfolding and aggregation during the thermal denaturation of streptokinase

Effect of polyols on the conformational stability and biological activity of a model protein lysozyme

The purpose of this study was to investigate the stabilizing action of polyols against various protein degradation mechanisms (eg, aggregation, deamidation, oxidation), using a model protein lysozyme. Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) was used to measure the thermodynamic parameters, mid point transition temperature and calorimetric enthalpy, in order to evaluate conformational stability. Enzyme activity assay was used to corroborate the DSC results. Mannitol, sucrose, lactose, glycerol, and propylene glycol were used as polyols to stabilize lysozyme against aggregation, deamidation, and oxidation. Mannitol was found to stabilize lysozyme against aggregation, sucrose against deamidation both at neutral pH and at acidic pH, and lactose against oxidation. Stabilizers that provided greater conformational stability of lysozyme against various degradation mechanisms also protected specific enzyme activity to a greater extent. It was concluded that DSC and bioassay could be valuable tools for screening stabilizers in protein formulations.

Collagen mimetic dendrimers

The synthesis of single-chain, scaffold (TRIS)- and dendrimer-assembled collagen mimetics (both Gly-Pro-Nleu and Gly-Nleu-Pro sequences) is reported. From the CD spectra and the thermal denaturation studies it can be readily seen that mimetics prepared from the Gly-Nleu-Pro sequence form more thermally stable triple helices than the Gly-Pro-Nleu sequence. Furthermore, the 162-residue collagen mimetic dendrimers exhibit enhanced triple helical stability compared to equivalent scaffold-terminated structures by a substantial increase in the melting temperature in H2O and 2:1 EG/H2O. The concentration dependence for the melting transition was measured which determined that the stabilization effect arises from the intramolecular clustering of the triple helical arrays about the core structure. This ensemble excludes solvent from the interior portion of the array which stabilizes the triple helical bundle.