Effect of freezing on aggregation of human growth hormone

The effect of freezing on formation of soluble and insoluble aggregates of human growth hormone (hGH) was studied. The amount of soluble aggregates was affected very little by freezing regardless of the cooling rate. In contrast, the formation of insoluble aggregates (particulates), as determined by light scattering in the 340- to 360-nm range, was found to increase sharply with increasing cooling rates. The amount of these particulates was also dependent on the pH of the solution. Freezing hGH solutions formulated at pH 7.4 resulted in highly scattering solutions, whereas pH 7.8 formulations showed significantly less scattering. These results emphasize the importance of understanding the freezing phenomenon for protein solutions and suggest that the formation of soluble aggregates and insoluble particulates may have different mechanisms.