Transição sol-gel em soluções orgânico-aquosas de lisozima e o efeito indutor do solvente: caracterização cinética e estrutural / Sol-gel transition in aqueous-organic solutions of lysozyme and the solvent-inducing effect: a kinetic and structural characterization

AUTOR(ES)

Marcelo Alves da Silva

DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2006

RESUMO

Lysozyme sol-gel transition in tetramethylurea/water was investigated in depth. These dispersions produced highly viscous systems, which evolved to physical gels, i.e., systems where the gel backbone is maintained by van der Walls forces and hydrogen bonding. The work was conducted in two fronts: a) the study of lysozyme dispersions in binary mixtures; b) the study of the binary mixtures themselves. A kinetics and dynamical characterization of the dispersions and gels was undertaken by means of rheological, spectroscopic and calorimetric assays. In the light of the rheological data, correlations were proposed between the gel mechanical macroscopic behaviour and its microscopic properties. The fractal character of the gels was established and their dimensionality calculated. Infrared spectroscopic experiments revealed changes in the protein secondary structure during and well after the sol-gel transition induced by the binary solvent mixture. It was found that the binary mixture induces an increase in the b-sheet content with a concomitant reduction of the a-helix, when above its critical concentration, as expressed in mass fraction of tetramethylurea in the binary mixture (wTMU >0.6). Calorimetric studies revealed that both denaturation temperature and enthalpy decrease linearly with the increase of TMU mass fraction in the mixed solvent, with no thermal effect being noticed above the binary mixture critical concentration. In order to investigate the dynamic and structural characteristics of the binary mixtures responsible for lysozyme sol-gel transition, solvatochromic assays were carried out for several TMU/co-solvent systems, where the co-solvents assayed were water and a few alcohols. Results revealed that TMU has structure-maker behaviour in water and structure-breaker behaviour in alcohol systems.

ASSUNTO(S)

lysozyme binary mixtures lisozima reologia rheology misturas binárias transição sol-gel sol-gel transition proteins tetramethylurea tetrametiluréia proteínas

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