AVS 52nd International Symposium
    Biomaterial Interfaces Monday Sessions
       Session BI-MoP

Paper BI-MoP19
Alginate Adsorption to Charged Surfaces: The Importance of Protein Co-Adsorption

Monday, October 31, 2005, 5:00 pm, Room Exhibit Hall C&D

Session: Biomaterial Interfaces Poster Session
Presenter: N. Chandhok, Smith College
Authors: N. Chandhok, Smith College
K.T. Queeney, Smith College
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The adhesion of extracellular bioploymers, including polysaccharides and proteins, to solid surfaces is a critical step in biofilm formation. It has been shown previously that alginate, a charged polysaccharide, will adhere to amine-terminated surfaces,@footnote 1@ and that the presence of a protein conditioning film can enhance alginate adsorption.@footnote 2@ We have used surface infrared spectroscopy to examine the adsorption behavior of alginate and find that protein co-adsorption is in fact essential for adhesion of this negatively charged polymer even to positively-charged surfaces. Specifically, the co-adsorption of protein impurities, which are present in quantities less than 50 ng/mL, is seen in all cases of alginate adsorption. When these impurities are filtered out by adsorption to high surface area MgO, no alginate adsorption is detected. Exposure of purified alginate solutions to protein conditioning films prepared from specific, known proteins is used to identify the critical polysaccharide/protein interactions that favor biofilm formation. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@R. Dhamodharan and T. J. McCarthy, Macromolecules 1999, 32, 4106-4112.@footnote 2@P. A. Suci and G. G. Geesey, J. Coll. Interface Sci. 1995, 172, 347-357.