Competitive Protein Adsorption at Plasma Polymer Surfaces

Competitive adsorption from a ternary mixture of human serum albumin (HSA), human IgG, and human fibrinogen (Fgn) at concentrations corresponding to blood plasma diluted 1/100 was investigated with the combination of Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence spectroscopy (TIRF) and ellipsometry. As substrates, three different plasma polymer surfaces, representing different surface charge and surface energy, were prepared from hexamethyldisiloxane (PP-HMDSO), acrylic acid (PP-AA), and 1,2-diaminocyclohexane (PP-DACH). In addition, adsorption from single and binary protein systems was investigated with ellipsometry. At the hydrophobic PP-HMDSO little or no displacement of any of the proteins was observed. The adsorbed layer was dominated by HSA and IgG, although Fgn was also present to a smaller extent. On PP-DACH and PP-AA, representing positively and negatively charged hydrophilic surfaces, respectively, Fgn completely dominated the adsorbed layer while HSA was almost absent and IgG was present only at a very low level.