| Abstract: | Insulin is the only protein that is secreted in a crystalline form in a human healthy body. To mimic the secretion process we used NaCl salting‐out to growing tiny rhombohedral Zn‐insulin crystals. The dissolution of the insulin crystals is of special interest for the therapeutical praxis, because the human body is supplied with the physiologically active monomers of the insulin through dissolution of the crystalline granules secreted in the pancreatic β‐cells. Sets of tiny rhombohedral Zn‐insulin crystals, which resembled the granules secreted in the β‐cells, were subjected to dissolution in blood plasma and model solutions. The impacts of the solution composition, flow rate, pH and ionic strength on the insulin crystal dissolution were investigated. The effect of the blood plasma was determinant because it dissolved the rhombohedral Zn‐insulin crystals almost instantly, while the effects of solution's physicochemical characteristics were of minor importance. In addition, we found that the presence of abundant zinc ions suppressed the dissolution of the insulin crystals. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) |
