Hydrophilic Core‐Shell Microspheres: A Suitable Support for Controlled Attachment of Proteins and Biomedical Diagnostics

Abstract

Functional hydrophilic microspheres (latex particles) have found various applications in life sciences and in medicine - particularly in latex diagnostic tests. This paper presents a comprehensive review of studies on latex particles with a hydrophilic interfacial layer composed of various hydrophilic polymers with reactive groups at the ends of macromolecules or at each monomeric unit along the chain. Typical examples of these hydrophilic polymers are poly(2-hydroxyethyl methyl methacrylate), poly(acrylic acid), poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide), polysaccharides, poly(ethylene oxide) and polyglycidol. Hydrophilic microspheres with different morphologies (uniform or core-shell, see Figure) have been synthesized by emulsion and dispersion polymerizations. The chemical structure of polymers which constitute the interfacial layer of microspheres has been investigated using a variety of instrumental techniques (such as XPS, SSIMS and NMR) and analytical methods based on specific chemical reactions suitable for the determination of particular functional groups. Microspheres are exposed to contact with proteins in the majority of medical applications. This paper presents examples of studies on the attachment of these biomacromolecules to microspheres. The relation between the structure of the interfacial layer of microspheres and the ability of these particles for the covalent binding of proteins is discussed. Several examples of diagnostic tests, in which hydrophilic microspheres with adsorbed or covalently immobilized proteins were used as reagents, are presented. The paper also contains a short review of the application of magnetic hydrophilic particles for protein separation. Examples of hydrophilic latex particles used for hemoperfusion or heavy metal ion separation are presented. Hydrophilic microspheres with uniform or core-shell morphologies.

Facile Access to Hydroxy‐Functional Core–Shell Microspheres via Grafting of Ethylene Oxide by Anionic Ring‐Opening Polymerization

“…[1,2] Polymeric microspheres can be synthesized directly by heterogeneous polymerization, e.g., emulsion and dispersion polymerization. [1] Several properties of microspheres such as a large specific surface area (SA), high mobility, easy recovery from dispersions, and reversible dispersibility are of advantage for many applications.…”

Polystyrene beads as an alternative support material for epitope identification of a prion-antibody interaction using proteolytic excision–mass spectrometry

“…Antibodies can also be immobilized on PS beads, a procedure which is often used in biomedical diagnostics [20,21]. Here, we introduce NH 2 -activated PS beads as an alternative matrix for epitope excision.…”

“…The PS particles are frequently used as carriers of biomolecules in biomedical applications, mainly in immunoassays [20][21][22]. This approach showed a significant improvement of the epitope peptide identification from bPrP , recognized by the monoclonal antibody 3E7.…”

Hydrophilic polymers grafted surfaces: preparation, characterization, and biomedical applications. Achievements and challenges

“…The properties of the surface layer of microspheres composed of poly(styrene/α-tertbutoxy-ω-vinylbenzyl-PGL) have been investigated in terms of numerous aspects. [46,47] On the basis of calculations from theoretical studies, the relative free enthalpy of hydration (ΔG sol ) of the most stable conformers for PEO and PGL (trimers) was found to be À16.05 and À26.14 kcal/mol, respectively. It follows that macromolecules of PGL are more favorably prone for hydration than the macromolecules of PEO.…”