梯度磁场在生物大分子研究中的应用

Applications of gradient magnetic fields in studies of biological macromolecules

磁场作为一种物理环境,广泛应用于各行各业.随着磁体技术的飞速发展,磁场在科学研究与实践应用中的重要性日趋凸显.在生物大分子研究方向,磁场也发挥了重要的作用.其中,梯度磁场作为磁场的一种,由于其提供的资源除磁场外,还有磁场梯度,使其具备除常规磁场效应(择优取向、晶体质量改善等)外的其他应用价值(如溶液的对流控制、晶体质量改善、分离纯化等),因此备受关注.梯度磁场环境下涉及生物大分子的研究,主要集中在生物大分子的结晶、分离与纯化,以及自组装等方向.充分利用梯度磁场,可以实现高质量的生物大分子晶体生长、高效低成本的生物大分子分离与纯化等重要应用.因此,梯度磁场在生物大分子结构解析技术、生物药物制备技术等方向具有十分重要的价值.本文将从梯度磁场物理环境对生物大分子溶液体系的基础性影响角度出发,回顾并讨论梯度磁场在生物大分子研究中的应用,并对该领域的发展前景进行了预期.

As a kind of physical environment, magnetic fields are widely used in many different fields, ranging from scientific research to industrial production. With the rapid development of magnetic technology, the importance of magnetic fields in scientific research and practical applications has become increasingly prominent. One notable research field is the application of magnetic fields in the research of biological macromolecules. In this research field, gradient magnetic fields, as one kind of magnetic fields, have attracted much attention and have been widely used in various research fields because they can induce effects caused not only by a magnetic field but also by a magnetic field gradient. This feature makes magnetic fields applicable in many research areas, except for those directly related to the magnetic field itself. So far, the application-based research of gradient magnetic fields involving biological macromolecules has mainly focused on the crystallization, separation and purification as well as the self-assembly of biological macromolecules. Since biological macromolecules usually need to complete various processes in their solution state, the influence of gradient magnetic fields on biological macromolecules is mainly realized through their influence on the solution system. It has been found that a gradient magnetic field can affect convection in biological macromolecular solutions through Lorentz forces and magnetization forces;in practice, partial or even complete suppression of convection can often be observed. In addition, other conditions or parameters of solutions are significantly affected by the gradient magnetic field. For example, in a gradient magnetic field, the following phenomena may occur:(1) superparamagnetic particles in the solution are strongly attracted by the magnetization force, and quick clustering of these particles can happen;(2) the solution itself may have some kind of solution structure;(3) the aggregation of biological macromolecules may show a preferred orientation in the magnetic field direction;(4) the diffusion coefficient of biological macromolecules in the solution will decrease;(5) the solution’s viscosity will increase, and so on. As a result of these effects, the following phenomena can be observed: during the crystallization of biological macromolecules, a preferred orientation of the crystals and crystal quality improvement of the biological macromolecules can happen;in the process of separation and purification of biological macromolecules, high-purity and highly bioactive macromolecules can be obtained rapidly and efficiently;and, in the process of the self-assembly of biological macromolecules, abnormal behaviours can occur. Based on these specific effects, the utilization of gradient magnetic fields can be further explored in more professional applications. Currently, the most common applications include the utilization of gradient magnetic fields for obtaining highquality protein crystals and the achievement of highly efficient and low-cost separation and purification of biological macromolecules. It is obvious that gradient magnetic fields have very important application value in biological macromolecular structure analysis technology, biological drug preparation and preservation technology, theoretical studies involving biomolecular phase separation and nucleation processes, and many other directions. In this paper, the fundamental effects of the gradient magnetic field on the solution of biological macromolecules are reviewed, the applications based on the effects are discussed, and the future prospects in this field are anticipated.