Tatiana B. Tennikova

High-performance membrane chromatography: Highly efficient separation method for proteins in ion-exchange, hydrophobic interaction and reversed-phase modes

Abstract High-performance membrane chromatography (HPMC) is a very effective chromatographic method in which all the mobile phase flows through the separation medium. The effects of process variables such as concentration of displacement agent, flow-rate and gradient slope on HPMC separations in the ion-exchange, hydrophobic interaction and reversed-phase modes were studied using model protein mixtures. The basic relationships characterizing column HPLC also apply in HPMC. Whereas the efficiency of the HPMC membrane does not depend on flow-rate, the resolution increases with increasing gradient volume. Separations obtained with a continuous linear gradient were used for the design of a stepwise gradient profile which decreases the consumption of both time and mobile phase in separations of proteins. According to calculations, the protein diffusivity enhanced by the convective flow through the membrane is about four orders of magnitude higher than the “free” diffusivity of the protein in the stagnant mobile phase located in the pores of a standard separation medium. This considerably speeds up the process and improves the efficiency of the separation.

Effect of porous structure of macroporous polymer supports on resolution in high-performance membrane chromatography of proteins

The effect of porous structures of 2-mm thick diethylamine functionalized monolithic polymethacrylate discs on their chromatographic behavior in ion-exchange mode has been studied. Discs with small pores did not perform well because they exhibited high back pressure and substantial peak broadening. Discs characterized with pores larger than 1,000 nm did not provide good separations either because the time required for some protein molecules to traverse the length across the pore to reach the wall for adsorption/desorption process that is essential for the separation may be longer than their residence time within the matrix. Optimum pore size is centered at about 700 nm. Excellent separations have been achieved with these discs even at very steep gradients and high flow-rates which allow to shorten the separation times substantially.

Applications of polymethacrylate-based monoliths in high-performance liquid chromatography

Monolithic columns were introduced in the early 1990s and have become increasingly popular as efficient stationary phases for most of the important chromatographic separation modes. Monoliths are functionally distinct from porous particle-based media in their reliance on convective mass transport. This makes resolution and capacity independent of flow rate. Monoliths also lack a void volume. This eliminates eddy dispersion and permits high-resolution separations with extremely short flow paths. The analytical value of these features is the subject of recent reviews. Nowadays, among other types of rigid macroporous monoliths, the polymethacrylate-based materials are the largest and most examined class of these sorbents. In this review, the applications of polymethacrylate-based monolithic columns are summarized for the separation, purification and analysis of low and high molecular mass compounds in the different HPLC formats, including micro- and large-scale HPLC modes.

An introduction to monolithic disks as stationary phases for high performance biochromatography

Monolithic stationary phases have revolutionized protein chromatography because they combine speed, capacity, and resolution in a unique manner. Since such stationary phases contain no particles but only flow-through pores, the usual mass transfer restrictions to the chromatography of large molecules are not observed and extremely fast separations become possible. Recently the area of application of monolith chromatography has been extended to the separation and analysis of small molecules and plasmid DNA. This review summarizes the state of art in high performance monolith and especially high performance monolithic disk chromatography (HPMDC). The current understanding of the theory of protein HPMDC is summarized, while an introduction to the evolving field of small molecule HPMDC is attempted. The basic differences between the monolithic disks and columns packed with conventional stationary phases (including perfusion and micropellicular particles) but also monolithic columns (porous rods) are outlined. Finally, the potential of HPMDC to analytical and preparative biochromatography is demonstrated by a discussion of recent applications of chromatographic disks for protein isolation and bioprocess analysis.

Comparison of antibody binding to immobilized group specific affinity ligands in high performance monolith affinity chromatography

A novel biochromatographic principle is introduced taking the quantitative analysis of affinity interactions between antibodies and immobilized group specific ligands (protein A, G, and L) as example. The name high performance monolith affinity chromatography (HPMAC) is proposed for this technique. HPMAC uses rigid, macroporous monoliths, so-called convective interaction media (CIM)-disks, as stationary phase. An optimized procedure is described for the covalent immobilization of the group specific affinity ligands to such disks. The binding of polyclonal bovine IgG and a recombinant human antibody (type IgGl-kappa) to all affinity disks is discussed. An essential feature of HPMAC is its compatibility to unusually high mobile phase flow rates ( > 4 ml/min). Chromatographic experiments are thus completed within seconds without significant loss in binding capacity and retentive power. This makes HPMAC a promising tool for applications in fast process monitoring or screening. As an example for the former, the direct quantitative isolation of recombinant antibodies from serum-free culture supernatant is demonstrated.

Fast isolation of protein receptors from streptococci G by means of macroporous affinity discs

A fast affinity method for the semi-preparative isolation of recombinant Protein G from E. coli cell lysate is proposed. Rigid, macroporous affinity discs based on a glycidyl methacrylate-co-ethylene dimethacrylate polymer were used as chromatographic supports. The specific ligands (here human immunoglobulin G, hIgG) were immobilized by the one-step reaction between native epoxy groups of the polymer surface and epsilon-amino groups of the IgG molecules. No intermediate spacer was necessary to reach full biological activity of the ligand. The globular affinity ligands are located directly on the pore wall surface and are thereby freely accessible to target molecules (here Protein G) migrating with the mobile phase through the pores. It is shown that the conditions chosen for the hIgG immobilization do not involve an active site of the protein and thus do not bias the formation of the affinity complex. Chromatographically determined constants of dissociation of hIgG-Protein G affinity complexes confirm the high selectivity of this separation method. Two different aspects of the affinity separation are discussed, which differ mostly in terms of scale. In disc chromatography, high volumetric flow velocities are possible because of the small backpressure. Since in addition the mass transfer is more efficient, it becomes possible to achieve very short analysis times. The discs proposed can be used in a single-step enrichment of Protein G from lysates of non-pathogenic E. coli. Gel electrophoresis data are used to demonstrate the high degree of purity achieved for the final product.

Quantitative fast fractionation of a pool of polyclonal antibodies by immunoaffinity membrane chromatography.

A new affinity method for the direct quantitative analysis of monospecific anti-peptide immunoglobulins (antibodies) and, simultaneously, their semi-preparative isolation from blood serum of the immunized animals has been developed. Immunoaffinity discs based on macroporous poly(glycidyl methacrylate-co-ethylene dimethacrylate) were used as the supporting stationary phase. The specifically prepared synthetic peptides with biological activity imitating that of the immunoglobulin binding sites of various proteins were used as the selective ligands instead of native proteins. These ligands were immobilized by a single-step reaction that involves epoxy groups located on the pore surface of the porous polymer disc with amine groups of the peptide molecules. A spacer between biospecific ligands and the linking site was not required to achieve good separation. These novel immunosorbents characterized by large binding capacity are well suited for high throughput screening. Dissociation constants of the peptide-antibody complexes calculated from the experimental adsorption isotherms confirm the excellent selectivity of the proposed separation method. The discs were used in a single step enrichment of antibodies both from precipitated blood fraction and crude blood serum of immunized animals. The quantitative data of the immunoaffinity disc chromatography were compared to those obtained by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Gel electrophoresis was also used to demonstrate the high degree of purity of the final product. In contrast to typical techniques that involve proteins, this immunoaffinity approach allows for the first time direct determination of concentration of specific antibodies using the immunosorbent prepared from the short peptide molecules immobilized on the internal surface of reactive porous polymer discs.

Multifunctional fractionation of polyclonal antibodies by immunoaffinity high-performance monolithic disk chromatography

High-performance monolithic disk chromatography (HPMDC), including its affinity mode, is a very efficient method for fast separations of biological molecules of different sizes and shapes. In this paper, protein and peptide ligands, immobilized on the inner surface of thin, monolithic supports (Convective Interaction Media or CIM disks), have been used to develop methods for fast, quantitative affinity fractionation of pools of polyclonal antibodies from blood sera of rabbits, immunized with complex protein-peptide conjugates. The combination of several disks with different affinity functionalities in the same cartridge enables the separation of different antibodies to be achieved within a few minutes. The apparent dissociation constants of affinity complexes were determined by frontal analysis. Variation of elution flow rate over a broad range does not affect the affinity separation characteristics. Indifferent synthetic peptides used as biocompatible spacers do not change the affinity properties of the ligands. The highly reproducible results of immunoaffinity HPMDC are compared with data obtained by widely used enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Quantitative investigation of the affinity properties of different recombinant forms of protein G by means of high-performance monolithic chromatography.

The recombinantly produced different forms of protein G, namely monofunctional immunoglobulin G (IgG) binding, monofunctional serum albumin (SA) binding and bifunctional IgG/SA binding proteins G, are compared with respect to their specific affinities to blood IgG and SA. The affinity mode of the recently developed high-performance monolithic disk chromatography has been used for fast quantitative investigations. Using single affinity disks as well as two discs stacked into one separation unit, one order of magnitude in adsorption capacities for IgG and SA were found both for monofunctional and bifunctional protein G forms used as specific affinity ligands. However, despite the adsorption difference observed, the measured dissociation constants of the affinity complexes seemed to be very close. The analytical procedure developed can be realized within a couple of minutes. Up-scaling of the developed technology was carried out using another type of monolithic materials, i.e. CIM affinity tubes.

Development of a strategy of influenza virus separation based on pseudoaffinity chromatography on short monolithic columns.

This research is devoted to the development and optimization of fine purification processes realized on short monolithic columns (CIM disks), using influenza vaccine and viruslike synthetic particles as model objects. The pseudoaffinity mode of liquid chromatography has been used as a tool for dynamic adsorption experiments. Viruslike particles, close to the dimensions of influenza viruses, were developed by means of main antigen of influenza viruses (hemeagglutinin) covalent binding to the outer aminated surface of synthetic latex particles. The natural receptor analogues of sialic acid were used as affinity ligands immobilized on the surface of the CIM disk by different ways to achieve a high adsorption capacity. Also, some other ligands were tested as possible candidates for virus capturing. The affinity binding parameters for influenza A virus were obtained by frontal elution method at optimized chromatographic conditions and immobilization schemes. The experimental data pointed out the possibility of selective isolation of hemeagglutinin from a mixture of vaccine proteins. The results obtained by fast affinity chromatography have shown functional and sterical correspondence viruslike synthetic models to influenza viruses. Additionally, the optimization of chromatographic conditions allowed isolation of influenza virus A while maintaining its virulence. The maximum value of adsorption capacity was registered for a monolithic disk, modified subsequently by chitosan and 2,6-sialyllactose and found to be equal to 6.9 x 10(12) virions/mL support.