No abstract

The preparation of an easily replaceable protease microreactor for micro-chip application is described. Magnetic particles coated with poly(N-isopropylacrylamide), polystyrene, poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-co-ethylene dimethacrylate), poly(glycidyl methacrylate), [(2-amino-ethyl)hydroxymethylen]biphosphonic acid, or alginic acid with immobilized trypsin were utilized for heterogeneous digestion. The properties were optimized, with the constraint of allowing immobilization in a microchannel by a magnetic field gradient. To obtain the highest digestion efficiency, sub-micrometer spheres were organized by an inhomogeneous external magnetic field perpendicularly to the direction of the channel. Kinetic parameters of the enzyme reactor immobilized in micro-chip capillary (micro-chip immobilized magnetic enzyme reactor (IMER)) were determined. The capability of the proteolytic reactor was demonstrated by five model (glyco)proteins ranging in molecular mass from 4.3 to 150 kDa. Digestion efficiency of proteins in various conformations was investigated using SDS-PAGE, HPCE, RP-HPLC, and MS. The compatibility of the micro-chip IMER system with total and limited proteolysis of high-molecular-weight (glyco)proteins was confirmed. It opens the route to automated, high-throughput proteomic micro-chip devices.

An in-capillary derivatization of amino acids and peptides with 4-fluoro-7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (NBD-F) was developed for their subsequent capillary electrophoretic analysis with laser-induced fluorescence detection (lambda (ex)=488 nm). The in-capillary derivatization was achieved in zone-passing mode by introducing successive plugs of sample and NBD-F into a fused silica capillary previously equilibrated with an alkaline borate buffer. To prevent NBD-F hydrolysis and to achieve a reliable derivatization, NBD-F was prepared daily in absolute ethanol and a plug of absolute ethanol was introduced between the sample and NBD-F reagent plugs. Various parameters influencing the derivatization efficiency were investigated and the optimum conditions were as follows: background electrolyte (BGE), 20 mM borate buffer (pH 8.8); introduction time, 4 s for sample and 2 s for NBD-F; molar ratio of NBD-F/sample, above 215; temperature, 45 degrees C for amino acids and 35 degrees C for peptides; applied voltage, +15 kV. The validation of the in-capillary derivatization method under optimal conditions showed a good linearity between the heights of the derivative peaks and the concentrations of the amino acids. The intra-day relative standard deviations of the migration times and the peak heights were less than 1.3% and 4.6%, respectively. The efficient derivatization and separation of a mixture of valine, alanine, glutamic acid and aspartic acid were achieved using this technique. Peptides such as buccaline and beta-protein fragment 1-42 could also be derivatized using the developed in-capillary derivatization procedure.