A Microfluidic Co-Flow Route for Human Serum Albumin-Drug–Nanoparticle Assembly

Nanoparticles are widely studied as carrier vehicles in biological systems because their size readily allows access through cellular membranes. Moreover, they have the potential to carry cargo molecules and as such, these factors make them especially attractive for intravenous drug delivery purposes. Interest in protein-based nanoparticles has recently gained attraction due to particle biocompatibility and lack of toxicity. However, the production of homogeneous protein nanoparticles with high encapsulation efficiencies, without the need for additional cross-linking or further engineering of the molecule, remains challenging. Herein, we present a microfluidic 3D co-flow device to generate human serum albumin/celastrol nanoparticles by co-flowing an aqueous protein solution with celastrol in ethanol. This microscale co-flow method resulted in the formation of nanoparticles with a homogeneous size distribution and an average size, which could be tuned from ≈100 nm to 1 μm by modulating the flow rates used. We show that the high stability of the particles stems from the covalent cross-linking of the naturally present cysteine residues within the particles formed during the assembly step. By choosing optimal flow rates during synthesis an encapsulation efficiency of 75±24 % was achieved. Finally, we show that this approach achieves significantly enhanced solubility of celastrol in the aqueous phase and, crucially, reduced cellular toxicity.     

Study on the interaction of La with bovine serum albumin at molecular level

The interaction of La³⁺ to bovine serum albumin (BSA) has been investigated mainly by fluorescence spectra, UV-vis absorption spectra, and circular dichroism (CD) under simulative physiological conditions. Fluorescence data revealed that the quenching mechanism of BSA by La³⁺ was a static quenching process and the binding constant is 1.75×10⁴ L mol⁻¹ and the number of binding sites is 1 at 289 K. The thermodynamic parameters (ΔH=−20.055 kJ mol⁻¹, ΔG=−23.474 kJ mol⁻¹, and ΔS=11.831 J mol⁻¹ K⁻¹) indicate that electrostatic effect between the protein and the La³⁺ is the main binding force. In addition, UV-vis, CD, and synchronous fluorescence results showed that the addition of La³⁺ changed the conformation of BSA.     

Spectrofluorimetric study on the interaction between antimicrobial drug sulfamethazine and bovine serum albumin

The interaction between the antimicrobial drug sulfamethazine (STM) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) has been studied using steady state and synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy. Fluorescence emission data revealed that BSA (2×10⁻⁶ M) fluorescence was statically quenched by STM at various concentrations, which implies that STM-BSA complex has been formed. The fluorescence emission data was analyzed via applying the Stern-Volmer analysis in combination with thermodynamic investigation, where obtained results revealed that quenching is static with quenching constants of 2.371, 1.658, and 0.916×10⁵ M⁻¹ at 298, 304, and 310 K, respectively. Binding constants and number of binding sites at different temperatures were also determined by applying the Scatchard method, which in turn were used to construct the van't Hoff plot in order to estimate the enthalpy (ΔH) and entropy changes (ΔS) for the complexation process. An average of 1.00±0.17 was estimated for the number of sites of BSA, which indicated that STM binds to BSA with stoichiometric ratio of 1:1. The values that were estimated from the van't Hoff plot for ΔH and (ΔS) were −36.8 kJ mol⁻¹ and −14.9 J mol⁻¹ K⁻¹, respectively, which indicate that the STM-BSA complex is stabilized with hydrogen bonds and van der Waals interactions. Synchronous fluorescence data was obtained at Δλ of 15 and 60 nm, where obtained results confirmed that STM binds to BSA at the tryptophan residue (Trp. 213). In addition, the distance between STM and the Trp. 213 was estimated via employing the Förster's non-radiative energy-transfer theory, and was found to be 2.73 nm, which in turn indicated that STM can bind to BSA with high probability.     

Study on the interaction between promethazine hydrochloride and bovine serum albumin by fluorescence spectroscopy

The interaction between promethazine hydrochloride (PMT) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) in vitro was investigated by means of fluorescence spectroscopy and absorption spectroscopy. The fluorescence of BSA was quenched remarkably by PMT and the quenching mechanism was considered as static quenching by forming a complex. The association constants K_a and the number of binding sites n were calculated at different temperatures. The BSA-PMT binding distance was determined to be less than 8 nm, suggesting that energy transfer from BSA to PMT may occur. The thermodynamic parameters of the interaction between PMT and BSA were measured according to the van’t Hoff equation. The enthalpy change (ΔH) and entropy change (ΔS) were calculated to be −23.62 kJ mol⁻¹ and −0.10 J mol⁻¹ K⁻¹, respectively, which indicated that the interaction of PMT with BSA was driven mainly by van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonds. The binding process was a spontaneous process in which Gibbs free energy change (ΔG) was negative. In addition, the results of synchronous fluorescence spectra and three-dimensional fluorescence spectra showed that binding of PMT with BSA can induce conformational changes in BSA.     

光谱探针猩红S与牛血清白蛋白结合的发光光谱

利用荧光光谱和紫外吸收光谱,详细研究了不同温度下猩红S(PS)与牛血清白蛋白(BSA)的结合反应,发现PS对BSA的内源性荧光具有较强的猝灭作用,其猝灭机理属于静态猝灭,由此求得PS与BSA间的结合常数、结合位点数及热力学参数等.结果表明:PS与BSA之间形成了1:1稳定复合物,它们之间的作用力主要是静电引力.根据Fo...     

Albumin-mediated asymmetric nitroaldol reaction of aromatic aldehydes with nitromethane in water

We succeeded in the asymmetric nitroaldol (Henry) reaction of aromatic aldehydes with nitromethane using human serum albumin (HSA) in water at neutral pH. The reaction of 4-nitrobenzaldehyde smoothly proceeded for 24 h at 30 °C to afford the corresponding (R)-2-nitro-1-(4-nitrophenyl)ethanol (27% ee). Lowering the reaction temperature to 0 °C improved the enantioselectivity (53% ee). Although the denatured HSA also catalyzed the coupling reaction, no enantioselectivity was observed. The reaction was also applicable to other substrates bearing various substitutions on the benzene ring, and the ee of (R)-1-(biphenyl-4-yl)-2-nitroethanol was up to 79% ee.     

辛伐他汀和格列齐特与牛血清白蛋白协同作用的光谱法研究

采用荧光光谱、圆二色谱技术,研究了两种药物辛伐他汀(Sim)、格列齐特(Gli)在模拟生理条件下对牛血清白蛋白(BSA)的共同作用。结果表明,两种药物对BSA的内源荧光都有猝灭作用,它们共同作用不改变静态猝灭方式。由定位剂竞争实验知,Sim、Gli在BSA上的主要结合部位在siteⅠ。相比较单一的药物,两药物共存使研究目标药物与BSA结合常数减小,血液中游离浓度增大,促进了药物释放,且三元体系中Hill系数均小于1,表明两药物间存在负协同作用。同步荧光结果表明,协同作用对BSA的构象产生影响,使色氨酸残基微环境的极性增强。圆二色谱显示了两药物共存对BSA二级结构的变化产生不同的影响。     

基于蛋白构象变化研究pH值对茜素红与牛血清白蛋白相互作用的影响

利用光谱法和分子对接技术研究了不同pH值对牛血清白蛋白(BSA)与茜素红(ARS)键合作用的影响。pH值为4.0的酸性环境引起BSA天然紧缩构象逐渐发生去折叠,BSA的ⅡA区疏水空腔的展开降低了其与ARS的相互作用,键合常数Kb仅为3.39×104L·mol-1。而pH值大于等电点(pI 4.8)或呈现中性时,两者的键合作用增强,Kb增至3.16×106L·mol-1(pH 7.0)。而且,由于氢键和范德华力的键合作用力较强,BSA和ARS的相互作用受表面电荷影响较小,与理论模拟对接结果相吻合。     

Multiplexed Determination of Amino‐Terminal Pro‐B‐Type Natriuretic Peptide and C‐Reactive Protein Cardiac Biomarkers in Human Serum at a Disposable Electrochemical Magnetoimmunosensor

A rapid magnetoimmunosensor for the simultaneous determination of two cardiac biomarkers, amino‐terminal pro‐B‐type natriuretic peptide (NT‐proBNP) and C‐reactive protein (CRP), in human serum is described. Specific capture antibodies were covalently immobilized onto carboxylic acid‐modified magnetic beads. The quantification of NT‐proBNP and CRP was performed by using indirect competitive and sandwich configurations, respectively, and horseradish peroxidase‐labeled tracers. The use of dual screen‐printed carbon electrodes allowed the achievement of simultaneous independent amperometric readout for each cardiac biomarker. The developed methodology showed very low limits of detection (0.47 ng mL^?1). An international standard for CRP serum spiked with NT‐proBNP was analyzed to evaluate the usefulness of the magnetoimmunosensor.