| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut
Correspondence: Address reprint requests to Dr. Devendra S. Kalonia, U-2092, School of Pharmacy, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269. Tel.: 860-486-3655; Fax: 860-486-4998; E-mail: kalonia{at}uconn.edu.
| ABSTRACT |
|---|
|
|
|---|
, and concentration, c, respectively. The B22 value is calculated from the slope of the Debye plot (Kc/R
versus c) generated from a range of concentrations obtained from these chromatograms for a single protein injection. It is shown that this method provides reliable determination of the B22 values for such proteins as lysozyme, chymotrypsinogen, and chymotrypsin in various solution conditions that agree well with those reported in literature. | INTRODUCTION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
A widespread application of the B22 value for investigating protein-protein interactions is lacking, presumably due to the limitations of the commonly employed techniques of batch-mode static light scattering, membrane osmometry, and sedimentation equilibrium. In addition to the long duration of time necessary to complete these experiments (
12 days), these techniques require large amounts of protein (
25100 mg) in order to obtain reliable estimates for B22 values. Furthermore, errors can be introduced from impurities in the sample, such as dust particles or protein aggregates.
Recently, reports have emerged on rapid and improved methods to estimate protein-protein interactions in aqueous solutionsmethods based either on self-interaction chromatography (Tessier et al., 2002
) or size-exclusion chromatography (Bloustine et al., 2003
). Although promising, these techniques require additional steps for determination of the B22 values. The technique of self-interaction chromatography, for example, requires prior immobilization (Tessier et al., 2002
) of the same protein; and immobilization itself can affect protein structure and, hence, protein-protein interactions. Attempts have been made to utilize size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) (Bloustine et al., 2003
), which is routinely used in protein molecular weight characterization, for the measurement of protein-protein interactions. Bloustine et al. (2003)
utilized the solute distribution coefficient as determined from the retention times in SEC to obtain the B22 values of proteins in aqueous solutions, and Wyatt (2002)
recently disclosed the use of SEC utilizing a light scattering detector and a concentration detector connected in series to obtain the B22 values of proteins. Although this technique minimizes contributions from dust and aggregate impurities, it is still prone to errors arising from interdetector delay volume (IDV) and interdetector band broadening (Netopilik, 1997
, 2003
; Shortt, 1994
; Wyatt, 1993b
; Wyatt and Papazian, 1993
; Zammit et al., 1998
) within the two detectors, and hence requires mathematical correction factors to obtain the B22 values.
It is necessary to emphasize the issues of IDV and band broadening in SEC utilizing two detectors (i.e., a light scattering detector and a concentration detector such as an ultraviolet detector) connected in series, especially when data points on the chromatogram, rather than the whole chromatogram, are used for analysis. When the protein sample, after separation in the SEC column, passes through the two detectors in series, a lag time occurs in the chromatogram due to physical separation of the detectors that relates to IDV. For proper analysis, the chromatograms from the two detectors must be overlaid precisely after correcting for this IDV. This is commonly done by measuring the peak-to-peak time difference between the two chromatograms, using a known standard and converting this time difference to the IDV from the information on the flow rate. Once known, this IDV is then used for all samples. The phenomenon of IDV is schematically represented in Fig. 1.
|
|
In this report, we present a method that measures the static light scattering intensity and protein concentration simultaneously in flow-mode using SEC, which therefore allows for the determination of B22 values of proteins in aqueous solutions. The simultaneous measurement of scattered light intensity and protein concentration is achieved by employing a specially designed dual-detector cell equipped with a 90° light scattering detector and an ultraviolet (UV) detector, which is used online in a size-exclusion chromatography/high-performance chromatography (SEC-HPLC) setting. The dual-detector cell has been fabricated primarily to eliminate the issues of interdetector band broadening and delay volume between the two detectors (See Methods, below, for details). Thus, a range of protein concentrations and their corresponding scattering intensities can be obtained from the eluting protein peak, after a single protein injection using this dual-detector cell to determine the B22 values from the resulting Debye plot. We show that this method can provide reliable estimates of the B22 values of such proteins as lysozyme, chymotrypsinogen, and chymotrypsinvalues similar to those obtained by using other techniques reported in the literature.
| EXPERIMENTAL |
|---|
|
|
|---|
-chymotrypsinogen A (6x crystallized),
-chymotrypsin from bovine pancreas (3x crystallized from 4x crystallized chymotrypsinogen A), and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were obtained from Sigma (St. Louis, MO) and stored at 20°C. Double-distilled water filtered through a 0.1-µm polycarbonate membrane filter was used for preparation of the mobile phase and protein solutions. For studies with BSA, a 25-mM phosphate buffer (buffer ionic strength = 40 mM) was used at pH 7.4. For studies with lysozyme, a 25-mM acetate buffer (buffer ionic strength = 16 mM) at pH 4.6 was used. For studies with
-chymotrypsinogen A and chymotrypsin A, a 10-mM citrate buffer was used at pH values 3.0, 5.0, and 6.8. The ionic strength of all solutions was adjusted with NaCl. The final pH of all solutions was measured using a Piccoloplus Hi-1295 digital pH meter (Fisher Scientific, Pittsburgh, PA) and adjusted to the desired pH using either 1.0 N NaOH or 1.0 N HCl. All experiments were performed at 25°C.
Methods
Size-exclusion chromatography
The chromatograms for the determination of B22 were obtained using SEC in an HPLC setting using a Precision Detectors' PD 2000 (Northampton, MA) detection system that hosts a 90° light scattering detector followed by a Waters 410 differential refractometer (Waters Corporation, Milford, MA). This type of system is routinely used for molecular weight characterization of macromolecules in an SEC setting (Jackson et al., 1989
) and has the advantage that it does not require calibration of the column (Wyatt, 1993a
) using various molecular weight markers. In fact, after a single calibration (as described below) using a protein of a well-defined molecular weight, for example BSA, the determination of the molecular weight of any given protein can be determined independent of the type of column used and the amount of protein injected as long as the refractive index increment (dn/dc) of the protein is known (Wyatt, 1993a
). The details of this method, used for measurement of protein molecular weight, are discussed elsewhere (Wen et al., 1996
).
In the present studies, a PD 2000 system was employed for determination of the B22 values, since it has the ability to monitor intensity of the scattered light using a 90° light scattering detector as the sample elutes from an SEC column. A significant modification was made to the cell that hosts the 90° light scattering detector in the PD 2000 systemnamely, to incorporate a UV source and a detector at 180° into the UV source, to monitor intensity of the transmitted UV light and hence the concentration of the eluting sample. A bandpass filter of 280 nm was used at the detector port to allow measurement of protein absorbance. Thus, a total of seven ports were present in the cell: a sample inlet port, a sample outlet port, a laser source for light scattering (685 nm), a 90° light scattering detector, a 15° light scattering detector, a fiber optic cable that served as the UV source from a MiniDATA UV (Analytical Instrument Systems, Flemington, NJ) hosting a deuterium lamp, and a detector for detection of transmitted UV light at 280 nm. The cell volume was 10 µl and the scattering volume was 0.01 µl. The path length for UV measurements was 3 mm. A schematic of this cell is shown in Fig. 3.
|
For SEC, a Spectra Physics P4000 pump (Spectra Physics, Mountain View, CA) in conjunction with a Rheodyne 7725 manual injector (Rheodyne, Rohnert Park, CA) with a 200-µl injection loop was used. A flow rate of 1.0 ml/min and an injection volume of 150 µl of the protein sample, with a concentration of 15 mg/ml, were used for all studies, unless otherwise specified. For each protein-buffer system, the samples were injected in triplicate. A schematic of the chromatographic system along with the detectors is shown in Fig. 1. For studies with BSA, a TSK-G3000SWXL column (250 Å pore size, 5-µm bead size, and 30 cm x 0.8 cm column dimensions) from Tosoh Bioscience (Montgomeryville, PA) was used. For studies with lysozyme, a YMC-pack Diol-60, DL06S05-3008WT column (60 Å pore size, 5-µm bead size, and 30 cm x 0.8 cm column dimensions) from YMC (Kyoto, Japan) was used. For studies with
-chymotrypsinogen A and
-chymotrypsin A, a TSK-G2000SWXL (125 Å pore size, 5-µm bead size, and 30 cm x 0.8 cm column dimensions) from Tosoh Bioscience was used. Appropriate guard columns were employed before the main columns.
Data analysis
In the common approach, the virial coefficient of proteins in aqueous solutions using the technique of static light scattering is obtained by construction of the Debye plot (Tanford, 1961
). The Debye equation is written as
![]() | (1) |
is the excess Rayleigh's ratio of the protein in solution of concentration c, and M is the weight average molecular weight of the protein. K is the optical constant and is defined as
![]() | (2) |
is the wavelength of the incident light, and NA is the Avogadro's number. Experimentally, a Debye plot is constructed by preparing several solutions of varying protein concentrations and measuring the respective Rayleigh's ratios. The virial coefficient is then determined from the slope of the plot of Kc/R
versus c.
In the present studies, the Debye plot is generated from a single injection of the protein solution. The chromatograms obtained from the UV detector and the light scattering detector are analyzed to generate the Debye plot to obtain the B22 value of the given protein under a given solution condition. The range of protein concentrations and the corresponding scattered light intensities are obtained from various points that constitute the chromatogram. Since the chromatogram appears as a band, a range of protein concentrations can be obtained, with the highest at the peak and lowest near the baseline of the chromatogram. Each point on the chromatogram represents a collection interval, the upper limit of which is decided by the duration of the collection of the chromatogram. In the present studies, the collection time was varied from 0.5 s to 1.5 s. The duration of sample collection did not affect our results. Each data point on the chromatogram represented an average of the scattered light intensity (and the transmitted UV intensity) from the sample volume that passed through the cell in this data collection time. The scattered light intensity at 90° and the intensity of the transmitted UV light at 280 nm are converted to R
and concentration, respectively, as described below.
Molecular weight of the protein sample in dilute solutions and for polarized light is related to intensity of the scattered light from the sample through the equation
![]() | (3) |
is the wavelength of the incident radiation, R is the distance of the sample from the detector, Is is the intensity of the scattered light, Io is the intensity of the incident light, c is the concentration of protein sample, dn/dc is the refractive index increment of protein solution,
is the angle between the plane of the incident polarized light and the scattering detector, and n is the refractive index of the solvent. Upon collecting all the constants and instrument parameters into an overall light scattering instrument constant, A90, Eq. 3 can be written as
![]() | (4) |
![]() | (5) |
![]() | (6) |
![]() | (7) |
![]() | (8) |
The concentration for each corresponding data point on the UV chromatogram was estimated from the UV signal intensity. In the present instrument configuration, the UV chromatogram represented the intensity of the transmitted light. Hence, the concentration of the injected protein at each data point was estimated using the equation
![]() | (9) |
Once the R
values and the corresponding concentrations are obtained for data at each time point on the chromatogram, the Debye plot is constructed according to Eq. 1 and the virial coefficient is obtained from the slope of this plot. An important parameter for the construction of the Debye plot is K, which depends on the square of the dn/dc of the protein solution and the refractive index of the solvent. Since the dn/dc of a given protein varies depending on solution conditions and significantly affects the value of K, this value must be determined for each different solution condition. In the present studies, this value is determined directly from the chromatogram obtained for the differential refractive index (DRI) detector after calibration of this detector using a standard of known dn/dc (see Calibration, below). This is another advantage of using SEC along with light scattering, UV, and DRI detector, since the dn/dc can be obtained from the same injection that is used for the determination of the B22 value. The refractive index of the NaCl solution of a given ionic strength, similar to that of the buffer (mobile phase), was used as the refractive index of the solvent for all calculations.
Calibration
The calibration of the instrument was carried out to determine the constant A90 for the determination of R
and the DRI constant, defined as B, to determine the dn/dc of a given protein. For this purpose, BSA was used as the standard. One-hundred microliters of a 2-mg/ml BSA solution in pH 7.4 was injected into a TSK3000SWXL size-exclusion column. A dn/dc of 0.167 and molecular weight of 66,000 was used to calculate calibration constants from the monomer peak of BSA. Under these conditions, the following calibration constants were obtained using the Precision/Analyze software (Precision Detectors): K90 = (B/A90) = 4569.8 and B = 54618.1. A90 is then obtained by dividing B with K90. Once the DRI constant, B, is obtained, the dn/dc of any given protein for a given solution condition can be determined as long as the molecular weight of the protein is known. The dn/dc value is estimated by varying its value in the calculation parameters until the calculated molecular weight from this technique is similar to the reported molecular weight.
| RESULTS AND DISCUSSION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
For the determination of B22, each individual data point on the UV chromatogram and the corresponding data point on the light scattering chromatogram is converted to concentration and Rayleigh's ratio, respectively, as described in Data Analysis, above. After calculating the value of K (defined in Eq. 2) a plot of Kc/R
versus c is then generated for all these points. Fig. 5 A shows such a plot for lysozyme at pH 4.6 for solution NaCl concentrations of 40 mM and 1.14 M. Several features are evident from this plot. It is clearly demonstrated that the proposed method provides a novel way of generating the Debye plot and hence of estimation of the B22 values, which in principle is similar to the values obtained from a batch-mode static light scattering method. Furthermore, a range of concentrations (
520 mg/ml) with several intermediate concentrations can be obtained from a single injection of 150 µl of a 30-mg/ml lysozyme solution thus providing enough data for a reliable linear regression analysis. Most importantly, this method can estimate and track positive and negative B22 values of lysozyme at pH 4.6 for various solution ionic strengths similar to those reported in literature under the given solution conditions (Fig. 5 B). Clearly, our values agree well quantitatively with those reported previously.
|
-chymotrypsinogen A, whose B22 values have been well reported in literature under various solution conditions. Fig. 6 A shows the B22 values of chymotrypsinogen A at pH 3.0 for varying NaCl concentrations in solution and Fig. 6 B shows the B22 values of this protein at a solution NaCl concentration 300 mM at varying solution pH. It is seen that the B22 values obtained by the method presented in this study follow similar trends compared to those reported in literature for the various solution conditions studied. It should be noted that the absolute values may not match since different techniques may result in different values of B22 as has been previously reported in similar type of studies (Bloustine et al., 2003
|
|
|
| CONCLUSIONS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from Boehringer Ingelheim, Ridgefield, CT and the National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Pharmaceutical Processing (http://www.ipph.purdue.edu
nsf/aboutCPPR.html).
| FOOTNOTES |
|---|
Submitted on June 28, 2004; accepted for publication September 17, 2004.
| REFERENCES |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Chi, E. Y., S. Krishnan, B. S. Kendrick, B. S. Chang, J. F. Carpenter, and T. W. Randolph. 2003a. Roles of conformational stability and colloidal stability in the aggregation of recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor. Protein Sci. 12:903913.
Chi, E. Y., S. Krishnan, T. W. Randolph, and J. F. Carpenter. 2003b. Physical stability of proteins in aqueous solution: mechanism and driving forces in nonnative protein aggregation. Pharm. Res. 20:13251336.[CrossRef][Medline]
Curtis, R. A., J. Ulrich, A. Montaser, J. M. Prausnitz, and H. W. Blanch. 2002. Protein-protein interactions in concentrated electrolyte solutions: Hofmeister-series effects. Biotech. Bioeng. 79:367380.[CrossRef]
Fabian, H., L. P. Choo, G. I. Szendrei, M. Jackson, W. C. Halliday, L. Otvos, Jr., and H. H. Mantsch. 1993. Infrared spectroscopic characterization of Alzheimer plaques. Appl. Spectrosc. 47:15131518.[CrossRef]
George, A., Y. Chiang, B. Guo, A. Arabshahi, Z. Cai, and W. W. Wilson. 1997. Second virial coefficient as predictor in protein crystal growth. Meth. Enzymol. 276:100110.
George, A., and W. W. Wilson. 1994. Predicting protein crystallization from a dilute solution property. Acta Crystallog. D Biol. Crystallog. D50:361365.
Guo, B., S. Kao, H. McDonald, A. Asanov, L. L. Combs, and W. W. Wilson. 1999. Correlation of second virial coefficients and solubilities useful in protein crystal growth. J. Crystal Growth. 196:424433.[CrossRef]
Ho, J. G. S., A. P. J. Middelberg, P. Ramage, and H. P. Kocher. 2003. The likelihood of aggregation during protein renaturation can be assessed using the second virial coefficient. Protein Sci. 12:708716.
Jackson, C., L. M. Nilsson, and P. J. Wyatt. 1989. Characterization of biopolymers using a multi-angle light scattering detector with size exclusion chromatography. J. Applied Polym. Sci. 43:99114.
Knezic, D., J. Zaccaro, and A. S. Myerson. 2004. Thermodynamic properties of supersaturated protein solutions. Crystal Growth Des. 4:199208.[CrossRef]
Netopilik, M. 1997. Combined effect of interdetector volume and peak spreading in size exclusion chromatography with dual detection. Polymers. 38:127130.[CrossRef]
Netopilik, M. 2003. Problems connected with band-broadening in size-exclusion chromatography with dual detection. J. Biochem. Biophys. Meth. 56:7993.[CrossRef][Medline]
Petsev, D. N., B. R. Thomas, S. T. Yau, and P. G. Vekilov. 2000. Interactions and aggregation of apoferritin molecules in solution: effects of added electrolytes. Biophys. J. 78:20602069.
Piazza, R. 1999. Interactions in protein solutions near crystallization: a colloid physics approach. J. Crystal Growth. 196:415423.[CrossRef]
Poon, W. C. K. 1997. Crystallization of globular proteins. Phys. Rev. E Stat. Phys. Plasmas Fluids Rel. Interdisc. Topics. 55:37623764.
Rosenbaum, D. F., and C. F. Zukoski. 1996. Protein interactions and crystallization. J. Crystal Growth. 169:752758.[CrossRef]
Shortt, D. W. 1994. Measurement of narrow-distribution polydispersity using multiangle light scattering. J. Chromatogr. A. 686:1120.[CrossRef]
Tanford, C. 1961. Physical Chemistry of Macromolecules. Wiley, New York.
Teske, C. A., H. W. Blanch, and J. M. Prausnitz. 2004. Measurement of lysozyme-lysozyme interactions with quantitative affinity chromatography. J. Phys. Chem. B. 108:74377444.
Tessier, P. M., A. M. Lenhoff, and S. I. Sandler. 2002. Rapid measurement of protein osmotic second virial coefficients by self-interaction chromatography. Biophys. J. 82:16201631.
Velev, O. D., E. W. Kaler, and A. M. Lenhoff. 1998. Protein interactions in solution characterized by light and neutron scattering: comparison of lysozyme and chymotrypsinogen. Biophys. J. 75:26822697.
Wen, J., T. Arakawa, and J. S. Philo. 1996. Size-exclusion chromatography with on-line light-scattering, absorbance, and refractive index detectors for studying proteins and their interactions. Anal. Biochem. 240:155166.[CrossRef][Medline]
Wyatt, P. J. 1993a. Light scattering and the absolute characterization of macromolecules. Anal. Chim. Acta. 272:140.[CrossRef]
Wyatt, P. J. 1993b. Mean square radius of molecules and secondary instrumental broadening. J. Chromatogr. A. 648:2732.[CrossRef]
Wyatt, P. J. Wyatt Technology Corporation, USA. assignee. 2002. Method for measuring the 2nd virial coefficient of a protein monomer. US patent 6411383.
Wyatt, P. J., and L. A. Papazian. 1993. The interdetector volume in modern light scattering and high performance size-exclusion chromatography. LC-GC. 11:862872.
Zammit, M. D., T. P. Davis, and K. G. Suddaby. 1998. Factors influencing detector matching in multidetector SEC: solvent and concentration effects. Polymers. 39:57895798.[CrossRef]
Zhang, J., and X. Y. Liu. 2003. Effect of protein-protein interactions on protein aggregation kinetics. J. Chem. Phys. 119:1097210976.[CrossRef]
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
A. Saluja, A. V. Badkar, D. L. Zeng, S. Nema, and D. S. Kalonia Ultrasonic Storage Modulus as a Novel Parameter for Analyzing Protein-Protein Interactions in High Protein Concentration Solutions: Correlation with Static and Dynamic Light Scattering Measurements Biophys. J., January 1, 2007; 92(1): 234 - 244. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |