Adsorption, aggregation, and desorption of proteins on smectite particles.

We report on adsorption of lysozyme (LYS), ovalbumin (OVA), or ovotransferrin (OVT) on particles of a synthetic smectite (synthetic layered aluminosilicate). In our approach we used atomic force microscopy (AFM) and quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) to study the protein-smectite systems in water solutions at pH ranging from 4 to 9. The AFM provided insights into the adhesion forces of protein molecules to the smectite particles, while the QCM measurements yielded information about the amounts of the adsorbed proteins, changes in their structure, and conditions of desorption. The binding of the proteins to the smectite surface was driven mainly by electrostatic interactions, and hence properties of the adsorbed layers were controlled by pH. At high pH values a change in orientation of the adsorbed LYS molecules and a collapse or desorption of OVA layer were observed. Lowering pH to the value ≤ 4 caused LYS to desorb and swelling the adsorbed OVA. The stability of OVT-smectite complexes was found the lowest. OVT revealed a tendency to desorb from the smectite surface at all investigated pH. The minimum desorption rate was observed at pH close to the isoelectric point of the protein, which suggests that nonspecific interactions between OVT and smectite particles significantly contribute to the stability of these complexes.

Exfoliation of montmorillonite in protein solutions.

In the study we demonstrate a method to obtain stable, exfoliated montmorillonite-protein complexes by adsorption of the proteins extracted from hen-egg albumen. Analysis of the process by means of sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) revealed that the complexes are formed by sequential adsorption of ovotransferrin, ovalbumins, ovomucoid and lysozyme on the surface of the silicate. Structural studies performed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) indicated that the adsorption of ovotransferrin and albumins is accompanied by disintegration of clay stacks into discrete platelets. Further analysis by dynamic light scattering (DLS) revealed that at protein to silicate weight ratios exceeding 20, the synergistic adsorption of albumen components leads to reaggregation of silicate platelets into disordered, microgel-like particles. By means of DLS it was found that exfoliation predominantly leads to formation of particles with average hydrodynamic radii (R(h)) of 0.19 µm while their aggregation causes formation of particles having R(h) in of approx. 0.5 µm and larger.