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Electrostatic control of protein adsorption onto negatively charged crystalline cello-oligosaccharide assemblies

Polymer Journal (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Protein adsorption onto surfaces is a critical process in biomaterial science, influencing subsequent biological responses. Understanding this phenomenon is key to designing materials with controlled interactions for biomedical applications. Here, we report controllable protein adsorption onto crystalline lamellar assemblies of carboxylated cello-oligosaccharides synthesized via cellodextrin phosphorylase-catalyzed oligomerization. These assemblies, featuring a terminal carboxy group linked by alkyl chains, possessed a negative surface charge, the magnitude of which depended on alkyl linker length, pH, and ionic strength, as confirmed by zeta potential measurements. Under varying pH and ionic strength conditions, we observed significant adsorption of basic proteins, which increased with longer alkyl linkers and lower ionic strength. Although acidic protein adsorption at acidic pH was minimal under high ionic strength, we notably found that acidic proteins were adsorbed onto negatively charged assemblies under low ionic strength. Our results demonstrate that electrostatic interactions primarily govern protein adsorption on these assemblies, enabling controllable protein adsorption through the adjustment of their surface properties and solution conditions.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Professor Toshiki Sawada (Institute of Science Tokyo) for his valuable contributions through helpful advice on the experiments and insightful discussions. The authors thank Professor Shingo Nakamura, Professor Hiromi Miyazaki, and Dr. Kazunori Morohoshi (National Defense Medical College Research Institute) for zeta potential measurements. We are grateful for the financial support to TS from a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (Aquatic Functional Materials) (JP22H04528) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan and a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (JP24K01548) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

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  1. Department of Chemical Science and Engineering, School of Materials and Chemical Technology, Institute of Science Tokyo, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Kai Sugiura, Akari Matsunami, Yuuki Hata & Takeshi Serizawa

  2. Faculty of Pharmacy, Juntendo University, Urayasu-shi, Chiba, Japan

    Hiroshi Tanaka

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  1. Kai Sugiura
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Sugiura, K., Matsunami, A., Hata, Y. et al. Electrostatic control of protein adsorption onto negatively charged crystalline cello-oligosaccharide assemblies. Polym J (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-025-01104-x

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