Sol-gel immobilization of serine proteases for application in organic solvents

Synthesis and enhanced thermal stability of albumins@alumina: towards injectable sol-gel materials

A major obstacle to the introduction of bioactively-doped sol-gel based materials for medical applications has been the fact that silica - the most widely studied sol-gel material - despite being a GRAS material, which is widely used as an additive in foods and drug formulations, is still not approved by regulatory agencies for intramuscular injections. Here we point to a potential solution to this problem by shifting the weight to alumina, which is approved for injections as the most common immunization adjuvant. Towards the achievement of this goal we describe the development of protein entrapment methods tailored to alumina, and show high thermal stability of protein-dopants, using a newly developed DSC methodology for this purpose.

Entrapment of subtilisin in ceramic sol-gel coating for antifouling applications

Enzymes with antifouling properties are of great interest in developing nontoxic antifouling coatings. A bottleneck in developing enzyme-based antifouling coatings is to immobilize the enzyme in a suitable coating matrix without compromising its activity and stability. Entrapment of enzymes in ceramics using the sol-gel method is known to have several advantages over other immobilization methods. The sol-gel method can be used to make robust coatings, and the aim of this study was to explore if sol-gel technology can be used to develop robust coatings harboring active enzymes for antifouling applications. We successfully entrapped a protease, subtilisin (Savinase, Novozymes), in a ceramic coating using a sol-gel method. The sol-gel formulation, when coated on a stainless steel surface, adhered strongly and cured at room temperature in less than 8 h. The resultant coating was smoother and less hydrophobic than stainless steel. Changes in the coating's surface structure, thickness and chemistry indicate that the coating undergoes gradual erosion in aqueous medium, which results in release of subtilisin. Subtilisin activity in the coating increased initially, and then gradually decreased. After 9 months, 13% of the initial enzyme activity remained. Compared to stainless steel, the sol-gel-coated surfaces with active subtilisin were able to reduce bacterial attachment of both Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria by 2 orders of magnitude. Together, our results demonstrate that the sol-gel method is a promising coating technology for entrapping active enzymes, presenting an interesting avenue for enzyme-based antifouling solutions.

Wet sol–gel derived silica for controlled release of proteins

The potential of wet sol-gel derived silica gels as new matrices for the entrapment and sustained release of proteins was investigated. Model proteins, BSA, ribonuclease-A and avidin, with differing molecular weights and/or isoelectric points, were entrapped in two silica polymer formulations having different silica contents (4% and 12% wt/v). The conformational stability of the proteins after entrapment and their release after immersion into physiological conditions were measured. Circular dichroism analysis showed that protein conformation is maintained after entrapment and stability is enhanced. Protein-free formulations were injected intramuscularly into BALB/c mice to monitor the in vivo fate of the matrix, and the results showed that the gel is totally reabsorbed, without any apparent surrounding inflammation process. The time required for matrix bioerosion varied between one to three weeks, depending on its SiO(2) content. Erosion was also measured in vitro and the contribution of erosion and diffusion to the release of the embedded proteins was quantified. These data indicate that wet silica polymers obtained by the sol-gel route are promising matrices for the sustained release of protein drugs.

The use of poly(ethylene oxide) for the efficient stabilization of entrapped α-chymotrypsin in silicone elastomers: A chemometric study

The enzyme alpha-chymotrypsin, a model for catalytic proteins, was entrapped in different silicone elastomers that were formed via the condensation-cure room temperature vulcanization (CC-RTV) of silanol terminated poly(dimethylsiloxane) with tetraethyl orthosilicate as a crosslinker, in the presence of different poly(ethylene oxide) oligomers that were functionalized with triethoxysilyl groups. The effects of various chemical factors on both the activity and entrapping efficiency of proteins (leaching) were studied using a 2-level fractional factorial design--a chemometrics approach. The factors studied include the concentration and chain length of poly(ethylene oxide), enzyme content, and crosslinker (TEOS) concentration. The study indicated that poly(ethylene oxide) can stabilize the entrapped alpha-chymotrypsin in silicone rubber: the specific activity can be maximized by incorporating a relatively high content of short chain, functional PEO. Increased enzyme concentration was found to adversely affect the specific activity. The effect of TEOS was found to be insignificant when PEO was present in the elastomer, however, it does affect the activity positively in the case of simple elastomers.

Salt-activation of nonhydrolase enzymes for use in organic solvents

Enzymatic reactions are important for the synthesis of chiral molecules. One factor limiting synthetic applications of enzymes is the poor aqueous solubility of numerous substrates. To overcome this limitation, enzymes can be used directly in organic solvents; however, in nonaqueous media enzymes usually exhibit only a fraction of their aqueous-level activity. Salt-activation, a technique previously demonstrated to substantially increase the transesterification activity of hydrolytic enzymes in organic solvents, was applied to horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase, soybean peroxidase, galactose oxidase, and xanthine oxidase, which are oxidoreductase and oxygenase enzymes. Assays of the lyophilized enzyme preparations demonstrated that the presence of salt protected enzymes from irreversible inactivation. In organic solvents, there were significant increases in activity for the salt-activated enzymes compared to nonsalt-activated controls for every enzyme tested. The increased enzymatic activity in organic solvents was shown to result from a combination of protection against inactivation during the freeze-drying process and other as-yet undetermined factors.