Collect. Czech. Chem. Commun. 2011, 76, 1075-1087
https://doi.org/10.1135/cccc2011080
Published online 2011-08-22 09:20:30

Nanoshaving of bovine serum albumin films adsorbed on monocrystalline surfaces and interfaces

Viliam Kolivoškaa,*, Miroslav Gála, Štěpánka Lachmanováa,b, Pavel Jandaa, Romana Sokolováa and Magdaléna Hromadováa

a J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry of Academy of Sciences of the Ccech Republic, v.v.i., Dolejškova 3, 182 23 Prague 8, Czech Republic
b Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Hlavova 2030, 128 40 Prague 2, Czech Republic

Abstract

We apply the ex situ and in situ atomic force microscopy (AFM) nanoshaving technique to investigate the bovine serum albumin (BSA) films on Au(111) and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surfaces. The both substrates were found to support the BSA films. The section analysis performed before and after the AFM nanoshaving allowed the determination of the film thickness. On Au(111) surface, both ex situ and in situ nanoshaving revealed that the film is formed by strongly denatured BSA molecules, with the average thickness 2.3 ± 0.2 and 2.0 ± 0.2 nm, respectively. On the other hand, the HOPG substrate was found to support less denatured BSA films, with the average film thickness 4.7 ± 0.3 and 5.2 ± 0.3 nm, based on the ex situ and in situ measurements, respectively.

Keywords: Proteins; Scanning probe microscopy; Surface analysis; Atomic force microscopy; Nanoshaving; Bovine serum albumin; Highly oriented pyrolytic graphite.

References: 38 live references.