Textures on the surface of BSA films with different concentrations of sodium halides and water state in solution

Abstract

The formation of the textures on the surface of the films from the solutions of bovine serum albumin (BSA) with sodium halides (NaF, NaCl, and NaBr) of various concentrations was studied. The formation of symmetric zigzag textures on the surface of BSA films (Cryst Eng 3:173-194, 2000) in the presence of sodium halides depends on the conformational state of the protein globule. Thermal denaturation of BSA also did not allow to form zigzag textures on the surface of the films.

Characterization of zigzag patterns on the surface of bovine serum albumin films

“…In previous studies we found that zigzag (hexagonal) patterns [16][17][18][19], similar to those observed in [20,21], are formed on films obtained from saline solutions of native DNA or protein. For a quantitative description of this type of texture, we introduced the value L specific , which corresponds to the total length of zigzag patterns per unit area.…”

“…The analysis was carried out on the basis of data obtained during the previous experiments [18,19,22,23]. The films were obtained from saline BSA solutions via vacuum drying at 40 °C in 20x20x1 mm 3 glass cells.…”

“…Br -and F -also influence the conformation of BSA and have a lower degree of hydration than Cl -(which affects electrostatic interactions) [18]. Br -and F -themselves do not create conditions for the formation of zigzag patterns, but their presence has different effects: at 8 mM/l Br -, the number of zigzag segments markedly decreases, while F -noticeably reduces the average length of zigzag segments.…”

“…However, it is often difficult to identify reliable differences between smaller levels of exposure due to a significant variance in the values of L specific within the same dose of exposure [17,18]. In this regard, the purpose of the current study was to analyze the extended series of characteristics of zigzag patterns on the surface of BSA films, including the parameters of their statistical distributions, and to find which ones are the most sensitive to the action of various physical and chemical factors.…”

“…-with Br -and F -In this experiment [18], it was investigated whether zigzags can form when chlorine ions are partially or completely replaced by other halides (bromine or fluorine). The concentration of salts varied from 20 to 0 mM/l for NaCl and from 0 to 20 mM/l for NaBr and NaF, respectively.…”