Magnetic albumin/protein A immunomicrospheres. I. Preparation, antibody binding capacity and chemical stability.

We describe a method of preparing small magnetic microspheres of albumin/protein A, uniform in size, at 200, 300 or 500 nm. It is shown that, independent of size, the microspheres always carry iron peripherally in their matrix and are thus magnetically responsive. A quantitative antibody binding capacity of 82 micrograms/mg microspheres was established for the 500 nm microspheres. The microspheres are stable in most commonly used buffers over a pH range of 2.5-9.2, but are appreciably unstable in such concentrated denaturing agents as 3 M TCN-, 6 M guanidine, or 8 M urea (loss of antibody binding capacity, 30% for TCN- and 70% for urea).