Experimental study of albumin and lysozyme adsorption onto acrylic acid (AA) and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) surfaces

Many commercial soft contact lenses are based on poly-2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and acrylic acid (AA) hydrogels. The adsorption of proteins, albumin and lysozyme, on such contact lens surfaces may cause problems in their applications. In this work the adsorption of proteins, albumin and lysozyme, on hydrogel surfaces, AA and HEMA, was investigated as a function of concentration of protein. Also the effects of pH and ionic strength of protein solution on the adsorption of protein were examined. The obtained results indicated that the degree of adsorption of protein increased with the concentration of protein, and the adsorption of albumin on HEMA surface at the studied pHs (6.2-8.6) was higher than AA surface, whereas the adsorption of lysozyme on AA surface at the same pHs was higher than HEMA. The change in ionic strength of protein solution affected the proteins adsorption on both AA and HEMA surfaces. Also, the amount of sodium ions deposited on the AA surface was much higher than HEMA surface. This effect can be related to the negative surface charge of AA and its higher tendency for adsorption of sodium ions compared to the HEMA surface.