Study of Protein Adsorption/Adhesion Behaviors on Solid Beads Surface with Different Surface Properties

Three kinds of chitosan (CS) derivatives have been prepared via polyethyleneimine (PEI) or polyethylene glycol (PEG) together with PEI modified chitosan. FTIR, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA)/differential thermal analysis (DTA) proved the successful linkage, and XPS and zeta potential analysis show that these derivatives beads possess different surface nature. The PEI modified chitosan derivative is made in acid solution (A-PEI-CS) and the one added with additional PEG (PEG-CS-PEI) has showed higher swelling degree than their counterpart derivative prepared at basic condition (B-PEI-CS). Although the nitrogen content of A-PEI-CS is higher than that of B-PEI-CS, due to the better surface hydrophilicity, the B-PEI-CS beads are more capable of adsorbing bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein. Electrostatic attraction facilitates protein adsorption in a narrow acidic pH range while hydrophilicity hinders protein adhering to the beads' surface at any pH.