Estudo do equilíbrio de fases em sistemas aquosos contendo albumina de soro bovino e polietileno glicol. / Phase equilibrium study in aqueous systems containing bovine serum albumin and polyethylene glycol.

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2007

RESUMO

The phase equilibrium in aqueous systems containing bovine serum albumin (BSA) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) with average molar mass values of 2000, 4000, 6000 and 10000 was studied in this work. All experiments were carried out at 25ºC, and the pH was varied within the values 4,0, 5,0 and 6,0. It was observed that the phase diagram depends on the pH and on polymer chain average size. According to the composition of the systems, not only solid-liquid (SLE) and liquid-liquid (LLE) equilibrium were observed, but also possible metastable systems with transition characteristics, whose PEG concentrations are intermediate to the purely SLE or LLE systems. Following the experimental data interpretation and the analysis of the Flory-Huggins equation, it was observed a direct relationship between the polymeric average size and the formation of SLE. The results imply that the terminal hydroxyl groups of the PEG molecules interact with BSA molecules, changing the protein conformation in such a way that the interaction coefficient BSA-H2O (which came from the Flory-Huggins equation) changes accordingly. Bearing in mind that the most influential parameter in the protein activity is the interaction coefficient BSA-H2O, small changes lead to a significant change in the calculated value of this activity. It is thus possible to state that the average molecular mass value of PEG is the main factor that affects the equilibrium state.

ASSUNTO(S)

equilíbrio sólido-líquido mathematical modeling proteins modelagem matemática termodinâmica liquid-liquid equilibrium polímeros sintéticos thermodynamics solid-liquid equilibrium synthetic polymers equilíbrio líquido-líquido proteínas

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