Immobilized liposome chromatography for studies of protein-membrane interactions and refolding of denatured bovine carbonic anhydrase

Interaction Analysis between Cationic Lipid and Oligonucleotide with a Lipid Membrane-Immobilized Monolith Silica Column: A High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Approach

Understanding the interactions between lipid membranes and nucleotide drugs is crucial for nucleic acid therapy. Although several methods have been employed to evaluate nucleotide-lipid membrane interactions, these interactions can be complex; this complexity arises from how external factors, such as ionic strength or temperature, influence the lipid membrane's overall properties. In this study, we prepared a lipid membrane-immobilized monolithic silica (LMiMS) column for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis to understand interactions between the lipid membrane and nucleic acid. First, the Raman shift, zeta potential, fluidity, and polarity of the LMiMS-column membrane were analyzed and compared to dispersed liposomes (not immobilized) with the same lipid composition. The results indicated that the column can effectively imitate the temperature-dependent properties of the lipid membrane, suggesting that the immobilized lipid membrane can be used as a model of dispersed liposomal membranes. Subsequently, HPLC was performed to analyze the interaction between the lipid membrane and oligonucleotides. The retention factor k was determined as an interaction factor between the LMiMS column and nucleic acid models (poly 10, 25, and 50mer dC) at various temperatures and mobile phase salt concentrations. The results revealed that changes in membrane interaction were significant by the phase state and salt concentration. Further analysis of the retention factor k showed that the interaction is weak below the phase transition temperature but strong above the phase transition temperature. The results indicate that membrane properties (rigidity and polarity) are also related to membrane interaction, which can be evaluated with the LMiMS column. This analytical method can provide a new perspective on estimating the interactions between target molecules and the lipid membrane through their temperature-induced dynamics. From these results, our method could be useful for analyzing lipid membrane-oligonucleotide interactions.

Recent strategies towards the surface modification of liposomes: an innovative approach for different clinical applications

Liposomes are very useful biocompatible tools used in diverse scientific disciplines, employed for the vehiculation and delivery of lipophilic, ampiphilic or hydrophilic compounds. Liposomes have gained the importance as drug carriers, as the drugs alone have limited targets, higher toxicity and develop resistance when used in higher doses. Conventional liposomes suffer from several drawbacks like encapsulation inefficiencies and partially controlled particle size. The surface chemistry of liposome technology started from simple conventional vesicles to second generation liposomes by modulating their lipid composition and surface with different ligands. Introduction of polyethylene glycol to lipid anchor was the first innovative strategy which increased circulation time, delayed clearance and opsonin resistance. PEGylated liposomes have been found to possess higher drug loading capacity up to 90% or more and some drugs like CPX-1 encapsuled in such liposomes have increased the disease control up to 73% patients suffering from colorectal cancer. The surface of liposomes have been further liganded with small molecules, vitamins, carbohydrates, peptides, proteins, antibodies, aptamers and enzymes. These advanced liposomes exhibit greater solubility, higher stability, long-circulating time and specific drug targeting properties. The immense utility and demand of surface modified liposomes in different areas have led their way to the modern market. In addition to this, the multi-drug carrier approach of targeted liposomes is an innovative method to overcome drug resistance while treating ceratin tumors. Presently, several second-generation liposomal formulations of different anticancer drugs are at various stages of clinical trials. This review article summarizes briefly the preparation of liposomes, strategies of disease targeting and exclusively the surface modifications with different entities and their clinical applications especially as drug delivery system.

Amperometric Detection of Conformational Change of Proteins Using Immobilized-Liposome Sensor System

An immobilized liposome electrode (ILE)-based sensor was developed to quantify conformational changes of the proteins under various stress conditions. The ILE surface was characterized by using a tapping-mode atomic force microscopy (TM-AFM) to confirm surface immobilization of liposome. The uniform layer of liposome was formed on the electrode. The current deviations generated based on the status of the proteins under different stress were then measured. Bovine carbonic anhydrase (CAB) and lysozyme were tested with three different conditions: native, reduced and partially denatured. For both proteins, a linear dynamic range formed between denatured concentrations and output electric current signals was able to quantify conformational changes of the proteins. The pattern recognition (PARC) technique was integrated with ILE-based sensor to perform data analysis and provided an effective method to improve the prediction of protein structural changes. The ILE-based stress sensor showed potential of leveraging the amperometric technique to manifest activity of proteins based on various external conditions.

Liposome Immobilization on Cross-linked Polymer Gel by In Situ Formation of Cleavable Covalent Bonds

Immobilization of liposomes onto chemically modified Sephacryl gel particles by in situreaction between liposome-incorporated thiols and mercapto moieties on the gel to form disulfide linkages was investigated. For the immobilization, both the mercapto moieties and the incorporated thiol were essential. The immobilization occurred upon coincubation of the modified liposomes with the modified gel for 48 hours. Once immobilized, no spontaneous detachment of the immobilized liposomes was observed. The degree of immobilization depended on both the thiol content and the ratio of the liposomes to the gel partilces. In a typical immobilization with 25mol% 1-octanethiol, 82% of the liposomal phosphatidylcholine in the system was found to be associated with the gel. By decreasing the ratio of the liposomes to gel it was possible to bring the immobilization close to quantitative one. Among the three different thiols examined (1-octanethiol, 1-hexadecanethiol and thiocholesterol), the extent of the immobilization was slightly higher with thiocholesterol than the alkanethiols. The immobilized liposomes were detached from the gel with dithiothreitol. Approximately 60% of the fluorescent dextran derivative encapsulated in the liposomes was retained throughout the immobilization-detachment process. The gel left after the detachment remained active for immobilizing a fresh batch of thiol-liposomes.

Hydrophobic properties of tRNA with varied conformations evaluated by an aqueous two-phase system

The surface properties of transfer RNA (tRNA) were analyzed using a poly(ethylene glycol)/dextran aqueous two-phase system (ATPS), where the surface net hydrophobicity (HFS) and the local hydrophobicity (LH) were evaluated based on the partition coefficient of tRNA in the ATPS. According to the evaluated HFS values, the surface of the tRNA molecule was hydrophilic at 20° -40 °C, and it became hydrophobic at 50° -80 °C because of the exposure of the intrinsic nucleobases of tRNA. In contrast, the LH values were found to be maximal at 20° -40 °C. The conformation of tRNA was investigated by Raman and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopies, corroborating the results with the calculated prediction of its secondary structure (Mfold). It was shown that 66% of A-form structure existed at room temperature; the base stacking (θ(265)) was gradually decreased, and the A-form structure (θ(208)) was denatured along with a sigmoid curve against the temperature increase; the denatured secondary structures were observed above 50° C by Mfold prediction. The HFS value of the DNA duplex was found to be hydrophilic, compared to that of the single-stranded DNA, indicating that the exposure of nucleobases is a key factor of the hydrophobic properties of nucleotides. We conclude that the hydrophobic property of the tRNA surface was directly affected by its conformational transition.

Triggered instability of liposomes bound to hydrophobically modified core-shell PNIPAM hydrogel beads

The ability to trigger a destabilization of the membrane integrity of liposomes bound to environmentally sensitive hydrophobically modified core-shell hydrogel beads is demonstrated. Hydrogel beads with a core composed of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) lightly cross-linked with bisacrylamide (BA) (pNIPAM) and a shell composed of NIPAM highly cross-linked with BA and containing varying amounts of acrylic acid (AA) [p(NIPAM-co-AA)] undergo a volume phase transition (VPT) at approximately 32 degrees C, as determined from (1)H magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR, regardless of the AA content of the shell. When the shell was hydrophobically modified with either decylamine or tetradecylamine, binding of extruded large unilamellar vesicles (eLUVs) composed of 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPC) was quantitative, as determined via fluorescence spectroscopy. Fluorescence microscopy showed that such bound eLUVs did not fuse. Hydrogel-bound eLUV membrane permeability was assessed using (31)P MAS NMR in the presence of the chemical shift agent praseodymium and demonstrated that only at lower degrees of hydrophobic modification of the core-shell hydrogels was eLUV membrane barrier integrity maintained when T < VPT. At a low degree of hydrophobic modification, cycling the temperature above the VPT even for short periods caused the eLUV membranes to become leaky. Hence, eLUV membrane permeability was coupled to the hydrogel VPT, a situation that would be useful in applications requiring triggered release of liposomal contents.

Calcein permeation across phosphatidylcholine bilayer membrane: effects of membrane fluidity, liposome size, and immobilization

The permeation of calcein across the phospholipid bilayer membrane is a key phenomenon in the detection system using liposomes as a sensor unit. The behavior of the calcein release from the liposome was analyzed by a first-order kinetic to obtain the permeability coefficient, Ps [cm/s]. The Ps value for the neutral liposome, prepared by zwitterionic 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC), was found to depend on both the diameter of liposome and the temperature. The membrane fluidity of the POPC liposome, evaluated by the hydrophobic probe, 1-(4-trimethyl-aminophenyl)-6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene, was also dependent on the liposome diameter and the temperature. The Ps values for various neutral liposomes under gel phase or liquid-crystalline phase were correlated with their membrane fluidity, although some data were a little scattered, possibly due to the lamellarity. It is therefore considered that the membrane fluidity dominates the permeability of calcein across the neutral phospholipid membrane. Based on the above results, the Ps value for liposomes immobilized on the solid surface is discussed.

Permeation of a beta-heptapeptide derivative across phospholipid bilayers

Based on a number of experiments it is concluded that the fluorescein labeled beta-heptapeptide fluoresceinyl-NH-CS-(S)-beta(3)hAla-(S)-beta(3)hArg-(R)-beta(3)hLeu-(S)-beta(3)hPhe-(S)-beta(3)hAla-(S)-beta(3)hAla-(S)-beta(3)hLys-OH translocates across lipid vesicle bilayers formed from DOPC (1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine). The conclusion is based on the following observations: (i) addition of the peptide to the vicinity of micrometer-sized giant vesicles leads to an accumulation of the peptide inside the vesicles; (ii) if the peptide is injected inside individual giant vesicles, it is released from the vesicles in a time dependent manner; (iii) if the peptide is encapsulated within sub-micrometer-sized large unilamellar vesicles, it is released from the vesicles as a function of time; (iv) if the peptide is submitted to immobilized liposome chromatography, the peptide is retained by the immobilized DOPC vesicles. Furthermore, the addition of the peptide to calcein-containing DOPC vesicles does not lead to significant calcein leakage and vesicle fusion is not observed. The finding that derivatives of the beta-heptapeptide (S)-beta(3)hAla-(S)-beta(3)hArg-(R)-beta(3)hLeu-(S)-beta(3)hPhe-(S)-beta(3)hAla-(S)-beta(3)hAla-(S)-beta(3)hLys-OH can translocate across phospholipid bilayers is supported by independent measurements using Tb(3+)-containing large unilamellar vesicles prepared from egg phosphatidylcholine and wheat germ phosphatidylinositol (molar ratio of 9:1) and a corresponding peptide that is labeled with dipicolinic acid instead of fluorescein. The experiments show that this dipicolinic acid labeled beta-heptapeptide derivative also permeates across phospholipid bilayers. The possible mechanism of the translocation of the particular beta-heptapeptide derivatives across the membrane of phospholipid vesicles is discussed within the frame of the current understanding of the permeation of certain oligopeptides across simple phospholipid bilayers.

Protein folding liquid chromatography and its recent developments

The ultimate goal of proteomics is to identify biologically active proteins and to produce them using biotechnology tools such as bacterial hosts. However, proteins produced by Escherichia coli must be refolded to their native state. Protein folding liquid chromatography (PFLC) is a new method developed in recent years, and it is widely used in molecular biology and biotechnology. In this paper, the new method, PFLC is introduced and its recent development is reviewed. In addition the paper includes definitions, advantages, principles, applications for both laboratory and large scales, apparatus, and effecting factors of PFLC. In addition, the role of this method in the future is examined.

Immobilization of liposomes onto quartz crystal microbalance to detect interaction between liposomes and proteins

To study the interaction between liposomes and proteins, intact liposomes were immobilized on a metal planar support by chemical binding and/or bioaffinity using a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). A large decrease in the resonance frequency of quartz crystal was observed when the QCM, modified by a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of carboxythiol, was added to liposome solutions. The stable chemical immobilization of intact liposomes onto SAM was judged according to the degree with which adsorbed mass depended on the prepared size of liposomes, as well as on the activation time of SAMs when amino-coupling was introduced, where the liposome coverage of electrodes was 69+/-8% in optimal conditions. When avidin-biotin binding was used on amino-coupling liposome layers, liposome immobilization finally reached 168% coverage of the electrode surface. Denatured protein was also successfully detected according to the change in the frequency of the liposome-immobilized QCM. The adsorbed mass of denatured carbonic anhydrase from bovine onto immobilized liposomes showed a characteristic peak at a concentration of guanidine hydrochloride that corresponded to a molten globule-like state of the protein, although the mass adsorbed onto deactivated SAM increased monotonously.

Heat-enhanced production of chitosanase from Streptomyces griseus in the presence of liposome

The effects of heat stress and liposome treatment on the growth of Streptomyces griseus cells and chitosanase production were investigated on the basis of using the designed strategy of a stress-mediated bioprocess. The effective conditions for increasing the interaction between chitosanase and the 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-3-phosphocholine (POPC) liposome under heat stress condition were determined on the basis of the results of circular dichroism (CD) and dielectric dispersion analysis (DDA). Under these effective conditions, S. griseus cells were cultivated for the effective production of chitosanase. The results obtained from both CD spectra and DDA showed that heat stress enhances the interaction of the POPC liposomes and chitosanase. The strongest interaction between them could be obtained in the specific temperature range of 40-45 degrees C. The enhancement of the target chitosanase production was conducted under heat stress at 41 degrees C in the presence and absence of the POPC liposomes. The growth rates of S. griseus cells in the cases of heat (41 degrees C) and heat (41 degrees C)/POPC treatments were respectively 1.2 and 1.4 times higher than that obtained under the control condition. In the heat (41 degrees C) and heat (41 degrees C)/POPC treatments, chitosanase activity increased to 1.8 and 2 times, respectively, higher than that obtained under the control condition. Heat stress and the addition of the POPC liposomes could therefore be utilized to induce the potential functions of bacterial cells for the enhancement of the final target production.

Detachable immobilization of liposomes on polymer gel particles

Immobilization of liposomes on hydrophobized Sephacryl gel and controlled detachment of the liposomes from the gel were examined. The gel was chemically modified and bore octyl, hexadecyl or cholesteryl moiety via disulfide linkage as anchors to liposomal bilayer membrane. Upon interaction with the gel, egg phosphatidylcholine liposomes were successfully immobilized onto the gel. The gel with cholesteryl moiety showed 1.7 times higher liposome immobilization per anchor moiety than the gels with the alkyl moieties. The immobilization of liposomes on the gel was stable, and no significant spontaneous detachment of phospholipid or leakage of fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated dextran encapsulated in the immobilized liposomes was observed in 24h. Reductive cleavage of the disulfide linkage by dithiothreitol resulted in detachment of the liposomes from the gel. The majority of the detached liposomes were found encapsulating the dextran derivative, and these liposomes should have kept their structural integrity throughout the immobilization and the detachment processes. The release of the liposomes was insignificant until the ratio of the dithiothreitol to the hydrophobic anchor reached a threshold. The presence of the threshold suggests that the immobilization of liposomes should require a certain minimum number of the hydrophobic moieties anchored in the liposomal membrane. By applying the present immobilization-detachment system, preparation of liposomes encapsulating the dextran derivative without using costly gel filtration or ultracentrifugation procedure was successfully demonstrated.

Optimal covalent immobilization of glucose oxidase-containing liposomes for highly stable biocatalyst in bioreactor

The glucose oxidase-containing liposomes (GOL) were prepared by entrapping glucose oxidase (GO) in the liposomes composed of phosphatidylcholine (PC), dimyristoyl L-alpha-phosphatidylethanolamine (DMPE), and cholesterol (Chol) and then covalently immobilized in the glutaraldehyde-activated chitosan gel beads. The immobilized GOL gel beads (IGOL) were characterized to obtain a highly stable biocatalyst applicable to bioreactor. At first, the glutaraldehyde concentration used in the gel beads activation as well as the immobilizing temperature and time were optimized to enhance the immobilization yield of the GOL to the highest extent. The liposome membrane composition and liposome size were then optimized to obtain the greatest possible immobilization yield of the GOL, the highest possible activity efficiency of the IGOL, and the lowest possible leakage of the entrapped GO during the GOL immobilization. As a result, the optimal immobilization conditions were found to be as follows: the liposome composition, PC/DMPE/Chol = 65/5/30 (molar percentage); the liposome size, 100 nm; the glutaraldehyde concentration, 2% (w/v); the immobilizing temperature, 4 degrees C; and the immobilizing time, 10 h. Furthermore, the optimal IGOL prepared were characterized by its rapidly increasing effective GO activity to the externally added substrate (glucose) with increasing temperature from 20 to 40 degrees C, and also by its high stability at 40 degrees C against not only the thermal denaturation in a long-term (7 days) incubation but also the bubbling stress in a bubble column. Finally, compared to the conventionally immobilized glucose oxidase (IGO), the higher operational stability of the optimal IGOL was verified by using it either repeatedly (4 times) or for a long time (7 days) to catalyze the glucose oxidation in a small-scale airlift bioreactor.

Creation and characteristics of phosphatidylcholine stationary phases for the chromatographic separation of inorganic anions

New stationary phases for chromatographic separation of anions, obtained by loading liposomes made from dimyristolyphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) onto reversed-phase packed columns (C18 and C30) are reported. Mono- and divalent anions were used as model analyte ions and retention data for these species were obtained using the DMPC stationary phases and used to elucidate the separation mechanisms involved in this chromatographic system. The DMPC stationary phases can separate anions by either a solvation-dependent mechanism or an electrostatic ion-exchange mechanism, depending upon the relative magnitudes of the negative electrostatic potential (Psi(-)) of the phosphate moiety (P-) and the positive electrostatic potential (Psi(+)) of the quaternary ammonium groups (N+) on the headgroup of DMPC. If Psi(+) > Psi(-), such as in case where Psi(-) has been reduced either by binding of eluent cations (e.g., H+ or divalent cations) onto the P- group of DMPC or by steric screening when a C30 reversed-phase material was used to support the DMPC, then the overall electrostatic surface potential (and hence also the effective anion-exchange capacity) was generally large and the anions were separated on the basis of an electrostatic mechanism. However, if Psi(+) was similar to Psi(-), such as in the case of using a C18 reversed-phase support and monovalent cations as eluent cations, then the overall electrostatic surface potential and the effective anion-exchange capacity were very small and the analyte anions were separated on the basis of a solvation-dependent mechanism. The DMPC stationary phases were found to be suitable for the direct determination of iodide and thiocyanate in highly saline water samples, such as seawater samples.

Unilamellar liposomes covalently coupled on silica gel for liquid chromatography

Silica gel was used as a support for the covalent coupling of liposomes, which could overcome drawbacks of soft gel beads in column efficiency and separation speed. The influences of the concentration of added dimethylaminopyridine and reaction time on the chloroformate activation reaction of silica gel were investigated. Temperature and pH for covalent coupling of liposomes on the activated silica gel were also optimized. Experimental results indicated that the stability of the covalently coupled liposome columns was obviously superior to that of the noncovalently coated liposome columns but the selectivity of both columns was basically identical. Separation and analysis of a crude extract of a traditional Chinese medicine Ligusticum Wallichii and a mixture of small peptides on both columns further support this conclusion.

Detection of a heat stress-mediated interaction between protein and phospholipid membrane using dielectric measurement

The dielectric response of lipid bilayer membrane vesicles (liposomes) prepared using either phosphatidylcholine from egg (EPC) or 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) was analyzed at a frequency range of 0.1 to 100 MHz. A marked dielectric dispersion for EPC and POPC liposome suspensions was observed above 1 MHz. An appropriate analysis of the dielectric dispersion curve was performed using the Cole-Cole equation and the Debye equation and was found to provide a method for the determination of dielectric parameters. Among the dielectric parameters, the characteristic frequency of a second dispersion around 50 MHz varied corresponding with changes in the test conditions. Of particular note is that an anomalous change in the characteristic frequency in the presence of protein corresponded to the degree of hydrophobic interaction between proteins and liposomes. The value of the frequency around 50 MHz, as well as the decrease in permittivity over the frequency range tested, are indicators of the interaction between proteins and liposomes.

Chromatographic approach for determining the relative membrane permeability of drugs

With the aid of the experimental dependence of the theoretical plate height (H) on the flow-rate (U), values of diffusion coefficients as the permeation rate, of the compounds in a polymeric stationary phase were calculated from solute mass transfer. This approach is proposed for modeling the relative diffusion rate of a drug within the membrane. After the successful separation of opioid compounds using a C(18) derivatized polystyrene-divinylbenzene polymer HPLC column, the slopes of H-U plots increase quantitatively in the order of meperidine<alfentanil<fentanyl<sufentanil, indicating that the large mass transfer resistance slows down the penetration of molecules. A constant intercept for the experimental plate height supports the proposal interpretation. A good correlation between the diffusion coefficients and hydrophobicity (log P(oct)) from the traditional shake-flask method was obtained for the opioid compounds, demonstrating that the more lipophilic molecules penetrate deeper into the stationary phase leading to a lower migration rate under the specified conditions. Plot of the diffusion coefficients versus potency ratio for different opioids after intravenous administration reflect the values of the dynamic process in drug studies. The work herein differs from existing studies by measuring the permeability of drugs into the stationary phase rather than providing membrane partition coefficients for a series of analogues. Thus, the study of drug permeability combined with other physico-chemical properties, such as hydrophobicity, may provide additional information on drug-membrane interactions.

Evaluation of interaction between liposome membranes induced by stimuli responsive polymer and protein

Immobilized liposome chromatography was utilized as a novel method for the quantitative evaluation of the interaction between liposome membranes. The capacity factors evaluated from the elution profile showed that interaction between 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) liposome membranes occurred in the presence of a stimuli responsive polymer and protein under specific stimulus conditions. The occurrence of such interaction was supported by experimental results for POPC liposome membrane fusion under corresponding stimuli conditions.

Immobilized-biomembrane affinity chromatography for binding studies of membrane proteins

Analyses of specific interactions between solutes and a membrane protein can serve to characterize the protein. Frontal affinity chromatography of an interactant on a column containing the membrane protein immobilized in a lipid environment is a simple and robust approach for series of experiments with particular protein molecules. Regression analysis of the retention volumes at a series of interactant concentrations shows the affinity of the protein for the interactant and the amount of active binding sites. The higher the affinity, the fewer sites are required to give sufficient retention. Competition experiments provide the affinities of even weakly binding solutes and the non-specific retention of the primary interactant. Hummel and Dreyer size-exclusion chromatography allows complementary analyses of non-immobilized membrane materials. Analyses of the human facilitative glucose transporter GLUT1 by use of the inhibitor cytochalasin B (radioactively labeled) and the competitive substrate D-glucose (non-labeled) showed that GLUT1 interconverted between two states, exhibiting one or two cytochalasin B-binding sites per two GLUTI monomers, dependent on the membrane composition and environment. Similar analyses of a nucleoside transporter, a photosynthetic reaction center, nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and a P-glycoprotein, alternative techniques, and immobilized-liposome chromatographic approaches are presented briefly.

Avidin-biotin-immobilized liposome column for chromatographic fluorescence on-line analysis of solute-membrane interactions

Unilamellar liposomes with entrapped fluorescent dye calcein were stably immobilized in gel beads by avidin-biotin-binding. The immobilized liposomes remained extremely stable upon storage and chromatographic runs. The immobilized calcein-entrapped liposomes were utilized for fluorescent analysis of solute-membrane interactions, which in some cases are too weak to be detected by chromatographic retardation. A liposome column was used as a sensitive probe to detect the interactions of membranes with pharmaceutical drugs, peptides and proteins. Retardation of the solutes was monitored using a UV detector. Perturbation of the membranes, reflected as leakage of the entrapped calcein by some of the solutes, can thus be detected on-line using a flow-fluorescent detector. For the amphiphilic drugs or synthetic peptides, perturbation of membranes became more pronounced when the retardation (hydrophobicity) of the molecules increased. On the other hand, in the case of positively-charged peptides, polylysine, or partially denatured bovine carbonic anhydrase, significant dye leakage from the liposomes was observed although the retardation was hardly to be measured. Weak protein-membrane interactions can thus be assumed from the large leakage of calcein from the liposomes. This provides additional useful information for solute-membrane interactions, as perturbation of the membranes was also indicated by avidin-biotin-immobilized liposome chromatography (ILC).

Stimuli-responsive separation of proteins using immobilized liposome chromatography

The possibility of the stimuli-responsive separation of proteins was investigated using immobilized liposome chromatography (ILC) as novel aqueous two-phase systems. The specific capacity factor (k(s)) of beta-galactosidase, obtained by analysis of ILC, was varied by changing the pH of the solution and was maximized at the specific pH of 5 (k(s),max = 5.57). The k(s) values were found to correspond well with their local hydrophobicities, which can be determined by the aqueous two-phase partitioning method. The variation of k(s), therefore, indicates a change in the surface properties of a protein during conformational change under pH stimuli. A similar phenomenon is observed in the case of other proteins (alpha-glucosidase, k(s),max = 11.3 at pH 4; carbonic anhydrase from bovine, k(s),max = 6.53 at pH 4). The difference in the height and/or the position of the peaks of the ks-pH curves of each protein suggests a difference in their pH denaturation in the ILC column. Based on these results, the mutual separation of the above proteins at pH 4 could be successfully performed by selecting their specific capacity factor as a design parameter.

Immobilized liposome chromatography for refolding and purification of protein

Small unilamellar liposomes were utilized as a kind of aqueous two-phase system and artificial chaperone which specifically recognize protein conformation with fluctuated structure. Liposomes showed highly selective binding ability to conformationally changed proteins treated with various concentrations of guanidinium hydrochloride, as evaluated by immobilized liposome chromatography (ILC). In refolding of proteins, liposomes bound to refolding intermediate of proteins and prevented them from forming intermolecular aggregates. Refolding of bovine carbonic anhydrase, lysozyme and ribonuclease A was significantly improved in the presence of liposomes. Furthermore, by utilizing ILC, refolding of proteins was also successfully and simply carried out with considerable high reactivation yield.

Oxidative refolding of lysozyme assisted by negatively charged liposomes: Relationship with lysozyme-mediated fusion of liposomes

Oxidative refolding of denatured/reduced lysozyme was examined in the presence of charged liposomes composed of neutral 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) and negatively charged 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoglycerol (POPG). Surface charge density of liposomes had a marked effect on the interaction between liposomes and reduced lysozyme which is observed in the early stage of the refolding. It was found that there was a critical level of surface charge density of liposomes (-0.15 C/nm2) at which the interaction between liposomes and lysozyme drastically changed. At the surface charge density of liposomes ranging from -0.15 to -1.4 C/nm2, the interaction between liposomes and lysozyme resulted in aggregate formation. In contrast, at the surface charge density ranging from 0 to -0.15 C/nm2, no aggregate formation was observed if the lysozyme/liposome molar ratio was less than 600. On the basis of the experimental results, a model for the interaction between charged liposomes and lysozyme was proposed, focusing on the mechanism of protein-induced fusion of charged liposomes as well as protein refolding on liposomes. Then, the optimal condition for oxidative refolding of lysozyme was examined in the presence of charged liposomes by controlling the lysozyme-liposome interaction. The reactivation yield of lysozyme was improved up to 85% in the presence of liposomes with a surface charge density of -0.14 C/nm2.

Covalent immobilization of unilamellar liposomes in gel beads for chromatography

For immobilized (proteo)liposome chromatography, unilamellar liposomes were covalently bound within gel beads that had been activated by CNBr, N-hydroxysuccinimide, tresyl, or chloroformate. Liposomes composed of phosphatidylcholine (PC) and 2 mol% of amino-containing lipid (phosphatidylethanolamine-caproylamine) were immobilized in the activated gels at 5-35 micromol lipid/ml gel and yields of 11-70%. The highest immobilized amount was found in chloroformate-activated TSK G6000PW gel, which contains large pore size (>100 nm). Liposomes composed of PC alone could also be attached to the chloroformate-activated gels at 33-42 micromol/ml gel and yields of 58-65%, probably by crosslinking of the phosphate moiety of phospholipid with the active group of the adsorbent. Liposomes prepared by various phospholipids with or without amino-containing lipids can generally be immobilized in the chloroformate-activated gels. The covalently bound liposomes were characterized by their high stability, unilamellarity, permeability of the membranes, and drug-membrane partition properties. A stable membrane phase was constructed for chromatographic experiments to be performed under extreme elution conditions.