Catalytic durability of magnetoproteoliposomes captured by high-gradient magnetic forces in a miniature fixed-bed...

Cytochrome c-oxidase, used as a model membrane-bound enzyme, was embedded in phospholipid bilayer membranes, attached to nanometer-sized Fe(3)O(4) colloids (so-called magnetoliposomes). In comparison with the lipid-depleted free enzyme, both the activity and the enzymatic stability of the complexes, stored at 4 degrees C, were considerably enhanced. These beneficial properties of magnetoproteoliposomes have been successfully exploited in a magnetically controlled fixed-bed bioreactor, operating in a continuous flow regime. (c) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.