Competitive inhibition of protein adsorption to silica surfaces by their coating with high density charge polyelectrolytes

Inhibition of Polyphenol Oxidase Activity by Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles and Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes Modified with Surfactants

Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) is the culprit behind the browning of fruits and vegetables. Therefore, how to reduce the thermal deactivation temperature of PPO or use as few safe reagents as possible to inhibit enzymatic browning has practical significance. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are stable and have high biosafety. In the present study, efficient PPO inhibitors were developed based on MSNs and MWCNTs. It is found that after modification with a very small amount of dodecyl trimethylammonium bromide (DTAB, ≥60 μg/mL), MSNs can significantly inhibit the activity of PPO although single MSNs and single DTAB show very limited effect on PPO activity. After modification with a very small amount of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS, 5.7-9.5 μg/mL), MWCNTs almost completely inactivate PPO. However, SDS@MSN and DTAB@MWCNT cannot decrease PPO activity significantly.

Investigating the influence of solvent type and pH on protein adsorption onto silica surface by evanescent-wave cavity ring-down spectroscopy

Several studies have explored the adsorption of various proteins onto solid-liquid interfaces, revealing the crucial role of buffer solutions in biological processes. However, a comprehensive evaluation of the buffer's influence on protein absorption onto fused silica is still lacking. This study employs evanescent-wave cavity ring-down spectroscopy (EW-CRDS) to assess the influence of buffer solutions and pH on the adsorption kinetics of three globular proteins: hemoglobin (Hb), myoglobin (Mb), and cytochrome c (Cyt-C) onto fused silica. The EW-CRDS tool, with a ring-down time of 1.4 μ s and a minimum detectable absorbance of 1 × 10 - 6 , enabled precise optical measurements at solid-liquid interfaces. The three heme proteins' adsorption behavior was investigated at pH 7 in three different solvents: deionized (DI) water, tris(hydroxymethyl)-aminomethane hydrochloride (Tris-HCl), and phosphate buffered saline (PBS). For each protein, the surface coverage, the adsorption and desorption constants, and the surface equilibrium constant were optically measured by our EW-CRDS tool. Depending on the nature of each solvent, the proteins showed a completely different adsorption trend on the silica surface. The adsorption of Mb on the silica surface was depressed in the presence of both Tris-HCl and PBS buffers compared with unbuffered (DI water) solutions. In contrast, Cyt-C adsorption appears to be relatively unaffected by the choice of buffer, as it involves strong electrostatic interactions with the surface. Notably, Hb exhibits an opposite trend, with enhanced protein adsorption in the presence of Tris-HCl and PBS buffer. The pH investigations demonstrated that the electrostatic interactions between the proteins and the surface had a major influence on protein adsorption on the silica surface, with adsorption being greatest when the pH values were around the protein's isoelectric point. This study demonstrated the ability of the highly sensitive EW-CRDS tool to study the adsorption events of the evanescent-field-confined protein species in real-time at low surface coverages with fast resolution, making it a valuable tool for studying biomolecule kinetics at solid-liquid interfaces.

From cell factories to patients: Stability challenges in biopharmaceuticals manufacturing and administration with mitigation strategies

Active ingredients of biopharmaceuticals consist of a wide array of biomolecular structures, including those of enzymes, monoclonal antibodies, nucleic acids, and recombinant proteins. Recently, these molecules have dominated the pharmaceutical industry owing to their safety and efficacy. However, their manufacturing is hindered by high cost, inadequate batch-to-batch equivalence, inherent instability, and other quality issues. This article is an up-to-date review of the challenges encountered during different stages of biopharmaceutical production and mitigation of problems arising during their development, formulation, manufacturing, and administration. It is a broad overview discussion of stability issues encountered during product life cycle i.e., upstream processing (aggregation, solubility, host cell proteins, color change), downstream bioprocessing (aggregation, fragmentation), formulation, manufacturing, and delivery to patients.