Desolvation process and surface characterisation of protein nanoparticles.

The objective of the present study was to characterise and optimise the desolvation process of human serum albumin (HSA) for the preparation of nanoparticles and to characterise the resulting colloidal system. Following the desolvation of the protein, the resulting nanoparticles were stabilised by the addition of varying amounts of glutaraldehyde or by heat denaturation. The particle size, zeta potential, and the number of available amino groups on the surface of the nanoparticles were determined. The amino groups were quantified by a spectrophotometric method using 2,4, 6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS). The results indicated that the particle size depended mainly on the amount of desolvating agent added, but not on the amount of cross-linker or the kind of cross-linking procedure. Increasing amounts of glutaraldehyde reduced the number of amino groups on the surface of HSA nanoparticles and also decreased the zeta potential of the carrier system. The temperature and heat denaturation time only had an influence on the stability of the nanoparticles but not on the amount of amino groups or the particle size. It was shown that heat denatured HSA nanoparticles possessed the greatest number of amino groups on their surface. Additional experiments for the characterisation of gelatin A and B nanoparticles were performed.