REDUCING NONSELECTIVE PROTEIN ADSORPTION AND CELL ADHESION ON POLYACRYLONITRILE FILMS BY COPOLYMERIZATION OF ACRYLONITRILE WITH α-ALLYL GLUCOSIDE

In this work, the surface properties of novel sugar-containing polymers, α-allyl glucoside (AG)/acrylonitrile (AN)copolymers, were studied by contact angle, protein adsorption and cell adhesion measurements. It was found that the contactangle of the copolymer films decreased from 68° to 30° with the increase of AG content in the copolymer. The adsorptionamount of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and the adhesive macrophage onto the film surface also decreased significantly withincreasing α-allyl glucoside content from 0 to 42 wt% in the copolymer. These preliminary results reveal that both thehydrophilicity and the biocompatibility of polyacrylonitrile-based membranes could be improved by copolymerizin gacrylonitrile with vinyl carbohydrates.

SURFACE MODIFICATION OF MICROPOROUS POLYPROPYLENE MEMBRANES BY GRAFT POLYMERIZATION OF N,N-DIMETHYLAMINOETHYL METHACRYLATE

Surface modification of microporous polypropylene hollow fiber membranes was performed by radical-induced graft polymerization of N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA). The influences of temperature, monomer concentration and pre-adsorbed amount of benzoyl peroxide on grafting degree were studied respectively. It was found that the appropriate graft temperature was 75 'C, at which the grafting degree was the highest and the hydrolytic decomposition of DMAEMA the lowest. Scanning electron photomicrography and the average pore diameters of the modified membranes demonstrated that part of the micropores on the membrane surface was plugged by the grafted polyDMAEMA chains, especially at high grafting degree. Contact angle and water swelling experiments showed that a moderate grafting degree could improve the hydrophilicity of the membranes. In the range of 11.3%-12.0% grafting degree, the water swelling percentage reached its maximum (51.1%) and the contact angle reached its minimum (74 degrees). The bovine serum albumin (BSA) adsorption experiment indicated that the grafted polyDMAEMA had a dual effect on protein adsorption. At the first stage, the BSA adsorption decreased with increasing of DMAEMA grafting degree. As the interaction between BSA and polyDMAEMA on membrane surface increased, the BSA adsorption increased with increasing of DMAEMA grafting degree.

Gas-assisted magnetic separation for the purification of proteins in batch systems

In this paper, gas-assisted magnetic separation （GAMS）, a technique that combines magnetic separation with flotation, was investigated for the potential large-scale separation of proteins, The GAMS process includes adsorption of target proteins and magnetic separation to recover protein-loaded magnetic particles from the dilute biosuspension with the assistance of bubbles, Microsized ethylenediamine- functionalized poly（glycidyl methacrylate） superparamagnetic microspheres （MPMs） and bovine serum albumin （BSA） were used as a model system. The feasibility of GAMS for capturing BSA-loaded MPMs from an appropriate medium was shown, High recovery of BSA-loaded MPMs was obtained by simple adjustment of the initial solution pH without extra detergents and antifoaming agents. The GAMS con- ditions were consistent with the adsorption conditions, and no proteins were desorbed from the MPMs during this process. Under the optimal conditions, the separation rate and recovery percentage reached 410 mL/min and 98% in 0.61 min, respectively. Conformational changes of BSA during the GAMS process were investigated by fluorescence spectroscopy and circular dichroism spectrometry,