Quantification of the complexation of protein with neutral water borne polymer by fluorescence spectroscopy

Polymerization-induced proteinosome formation

In recent years, the fabrication of well-organized proteinosomes has been a popular topic due to the potential applications of the structures in materials science and nanotechnology. A big challenge in the fabrication of proteinosomes is to maintain the structures and the functionalities of proteins on the proteinosomes. In this research, a new concept of polymerization-induced formation of proteinosomes is proposed. In thermal dispersion polymerization of N-isopropyl acrylamide (NIPAM) in the presence of bovine serum albumin (BSA), the growing PNIPAM chains experience phase transition from hydrated coils to dehydrated globules, and the dehydrated PNIPAM chains have hydrophobic interaction with BSA, leading to the formation of hollow proteinosomes. Kinetics studies indicate that there is a transition from the homogeneous polymerization of NIPAM in solution to the heterogeneous polymerization in the proteinosomes. Transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy and dynamic light scattering all demonstrate the formation of hollow structures. The results of circular dichroism spectroscopy indicate that the secondary structure of BSA remains unchanged in the polymerization process. The formation of proteinosomes is reversible. Upon cooling of the solution to a temperature below the phase transition temperature of PNIPAM, the proteinosomes are dissociated due to the absence of the hydrophobic interaction. The proteinosomes can be used in the encapsulation of hydrophilic compounds in aqueous solution. In this research, not only BSA but also ovalbumin (OVA) is used as a model protein for the fabrication of proteinosomes by the polymerization-induced approach.

Hydrophobic Interaction-Induced Coassembly of Homopolymers and Proteins

Studies on the fabrication of polymer-protein hybrid self-assemblies have aroused great interest over the past years because of a broad range of applications of the materials in drug/protein delivery, biosensors, and enhancement of protein stability. The hybrid assemblies are usually fabricated from polymer-protein bioconjugates, which may suffer from the damages to the protein structures and the loss of functionalities in the synthesis. Herein, we report a simple and efficient approach to the fabrication of vesicle-like structures based on coassembly of homopolymer chains and protein molecules. At room temperature, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) are able to form complexes through hydrophobic interactions in aqueous solution. Upon heating to a temperature above the cloud point of PNIPAM, vesicle-like structures with collapsed PNIPAM in the walls and BSA at the surfaces are formed. The size and membrane thickness of the assemblies can be tuned by the molar ratio of PNIPAM to BSA. The hydrophobic interaction between PNIPAM and BSA plays a key role in the complex formation and self-assembly process. The complexes and assembled structures are analyzed by using micro differential scanning calorimetry, light scattering, and transmission electron microscopy. BSA in the assemblies retains over 90% of its activity, and the protein stability is enhanced because of the hydrophobic interaction between proteins and polymers. This approach allows us to prepare polymer-protein assemblies without bioconjugate synthesis. Meanwhile, possible damages to the protein structures and the loss of bioactivities of proteins can be avoided.

Protein quantitation by complexation of fluorescent tetraphenylthiophene cation to anion-terminated poly(N-isopropylacrylamide): aggregation-enhanced emission and electrostatic interaction

A fluorescent biological sensor utilizing aggregation-enhanced emission (AEE) property was developed in our laboratory. First, the AEE-active fluorescent tetraphenylthiophene (TP) unit was synthetically connected to poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) by covalent and ionic bonds, resulting in the respective c- and i-TP-PNIPAM for the detection and quantification of the bovine serum albumin (BSA) model protein. When bind to BSA, the ionic i-TP-PNIPAM shows much better fluorescence (FL) sensitivity compared to c-PNIPAM. The fluorescence (FL) intensity of i-TP-PNIAPM displays a good linear dependence on concentration of BSA (0-1 mg/mL), indicating quantitative fluorimetric protein detection can be achieved. Further addition of anionic surfactant of sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) considerably raised the FL intensity of the complex solution. All the FL response was discussed in term of conformational freedom of the TP unit under different environmental constraints.