Biomaterials

Surface-Protein interaction

Crucial for the biological response is the structure of the adsorbed proteins, whether they denaturise and loose there 3D-strcuture, i.e., loose there function. Surface sensitive instrument based on optical or acoustic methods can be used with very high accuracy to detect and estimate the amount of protein binding to surfaces. However, the structure of the adsorbed protein is not obvious from those kinds of methods. The impedance-based z-LAB system is very advantageous in regards to measure the degree of protein denaturation when adsorbed to a surface. Proteins adsorbed firmly to the sensor surfaces will decrease the capacitance and increase the resistance of the sensor electrodes. A related study was published in the scientific magazine Sensors and Actuators B (Hedlund et al 2009), where the denaturation of blood proteins to different surfaces where analyzed using the z-LAB instrument. This study clearly shows that solely determination of the mass of adsorbed proteins is inadequate to analyze the protein interaction with a surface and it shows how the z-LAB system can contribute with new information when used together with traditional methods.

Related products: z-LAB Instrument