Protein films adsorbed on experimental dental materials: ToF-SIMS with multivariate data analysis

The proteins lysozyme, amylase, and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were adsorbed on two experimental dental materials, made of fluoroapatite particles embedded in polymer matrices, and on silicon wafers. The protein films were prepared as single-component layers, as binary mixtures, and as double layers. These systems were investigated by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and the multivariate data analysis technique of discriminant principal-component analysis (DPCA). During adsorption of a single protein film on to the solid surfaces, the three proteins could be clearly distinguished by the scores of their mass spectra after selection of amino acid-related peaks and DPCA. Furthermore, very similar results were obtained on the two different fluoroapatite substrates. For samples coated with binary layers of two proteins adsorbed simultaneously, it was found for both substrate types that BSA shows the strongest ability to adsorb followed by lysozyme, while amylase has the smallest ability. By contrast, the consecutive adsorption of two protein layers showed a strong influence of substrate type on the adsorption ability of the proteins.