Investigation of the potency of leukodepletion filter membranes immobilized with bovine serum albumin via polydopamine spacer

Abstract

Conjugation of biomolecules over membrane surfaces intended for blood contacting applications has been proven worthwhile for the improvement of their hemocompatibility. In conjunction with this factuality, this manuscript for the first time unveils the feasibility of bovine serum albumin (BSA) immobilization via polydopamine precursors on electrospun poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol) (EVAL) leukodepletion filter membranes. The successful immobilization of different extents of BSA on EVAL membranes was endorsed by the Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) Spectrum, variations in the wettability, electron microscopic images revealing the alterations in the fiber diameter and porousness of membranes. An interesting backlash was encountered in the in vitro plasma protein adsorption and in vitro platelet adhesion on the BSA-immobilized membranes as they exhibited a higher protein adsorption and lower platelet adhesion in comparison with neat EVAL. The infiltration of immobilized BSA to the leukodepletion capacity of those membranes was preliminarily studied by in vitro blood-material interactions followed by typical whole blood filtration of selected membranes. The data presented highlight that BSA moieties do not particularly affect the white blood cell (WBC) adhesion and platelet adhesion of EVAL membranes whereas resulted in a significantly higher red blood cell (RBC) recovery and decreased hemolysis under in vitro conditions. Accordingly, BSA-immobilized EVAL membranes were made to asymmetric leukodepletion filters; however, their further evaluation by whole blood filtration ensued that immobilization of BSA could not particularly enhance the overall whole blood leukodepletion efficacy of EVAL membranes.

Highly Efficient One-Step Protein Immobilization on Polymer Membranes Supported by Response Surface Methodology

“…Surface modification of membranes has been investigated extensively in order to modify the surface hydrophilicity ( Subasi and Cicek, 2017 ), introduce advanced functionalities ( Nasef, 2004 ), or improve blood compatibility ( Mollahosseini et al, 2020 ). Many methods have been studied, of which protein grafting is a widely used approach ( Fang et al, 2010 ; Zhu et al, 2011 ; Liu et al, 2012 ; Riyasudheen et al, 2012 ; Wang et al, 2012 ; Wu et al, 2014 ; Akashi and Kuroda, 2015 ; Mayuri et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Subsequently, a wet-chemical coupling reaction might be carried out to bind the biomolecules ( Schulze et al, 2017 ; Schmidt et al, 2018 ). Nevertheless, the methods published so far have considerable drawbacks that are diametrically opposed to future industrial applications ( Kang et al, 1993 ; Ladavière et al, 1999 ; Fang et al, 2009 ; Fang et al, 2010 ; Zhu et al, 2011 ; Liu et al, 2012 ; Riyasudheen et al, 2012 ; Wang et al, 2012 ; Zhang et al, 2013 ; Li et al, 2014 ; Wu et al, 2014 ; Akashi and Kuroda, 2015 ; Vitola et al, 2015 ; Wu et al, 2018 ; Mayuri et al, 2020 ): 1) modifications are performed in multi-step batch reactions; 2) often require several expensive or toxic coupling chemicals like acrylates, carbodiimide, or glutaraldehyde; 3) take many hours up to several days to complete; 4) involve harsh reaction conditions; or 5) are limited to selected types of polymer substrates. Therefore, protein-modified polymer materials still fall short of their true potential due to a lack of cost-effective and highly scalable manufacturing strategies.…”