Synthesis and characterisation of magnetised Dacron-heparin composite employed for antithrombin affinity purification.

Human antithrombin is a blood derivative widely used in the treatment of coagulation dysfunction. Affinity chromatography using heparin (HEP) derivatives is usually used for antithrombin purification. In this study, an affinity procedure based on a magnetic Dacron-HEP composite is proposed. Dacron was firstly converted to Dacron-hydrazide and magnetised by co-precipitation with of Fe2+/Fe3+ (mDAC). HEP was activated by carbodiimide and N-hydroxysuccinimide and covalently linked to mDAC (mDAC-HEP). EDX and infrared spectra analyses confirmed each synthesis step of mDAC-HEP. This composite exhibited superparamagnetism behaviour. Human plasma was incubated with mDAC-HEP (fresh and stored over a long period) and washed with phosphate buffer containing increasing concentrations of NaCl. Human plasma antithrombin activity was reduced by approximately 20% in the presence of the 1.0M NaCl fraction, and this eluate was able to prolong coagulation time (aPTT) using both preparations. Electrophoresis of the eluates revealed bands corresponding to the expected size of antithrombin (58kDa). The mDAC-HEP particles are reusable. This method presents the following advantages: easy, low-cost synthesis of the composite, magnet-based affinity purification steps, and reusability.

α-L-rhamnosidase of Aspergillus terreus immobilized on ferromagnetic supports.

α-L-rhamnosidase from Aspergillus terreus was covalently immobilized on the following ferromagnetic supports: polyethylene terephthalate (Dacron-hydrazide), polysiloxane/polyvinyl alcohol (POS/PVA), and chitosan. The powdered supports were magnetized by thermal coprecipitation method using ferric and ferrous chlorides, and the immobilization was carried out via glutaraldehyde. The activity of the Dacron-hydrazide (0.53 nkat/µg of protein) and POS/PVA (0.59 nkat/µg of protein) immobilized enzyme was significantly higher than that found for the chitosan derivative (0.06 nkat/µg of protein). The activity-pH and activity-temperature profiles for all immobilized enzymes did not show difference compared to the free enzyme, except the chitosan derivative that presented higher maximum temperature at 65 °C. The Dacron-hydrazide derivative thermal stability showed a similar behavior of the free enzyme in the temperature range of 40-70 °C. The POS/PVA and chitosan derivatives were stable up to 60 °C, but were completely inactivated at 70 °C. The activity of the preparations did not appreciably decrease after ten successive reuses. Apparent K (m) of α-L-rhamnosidase immobilized on magnetized Dacron-hydrazide (1.05 ± 0.22 mM), POS/PVA (0.57 ± 0.09 mM), and chitosan (1.78 ± 0.24 mM) were higher than that estimated for the soluble enzyme (0.30 ± 0.03 mM). The Dacron-hydrazide enzyme derivative showed better performance than the free enzyme to hydrolyze 0.3% narigin (91% and 73% after 1 h, respectively) and synthesize rhamnosides (0.116 and 0.014 mg narirutin after 1 h, respectively).