STABILIZATION OF INSULIN BY ALKYLMALTOSIDES .A. SPECTROSCOPIC EVALUATION

The aggregational behavior of native bovine insulin has been studied b y circular dichroism and quasi elastic laser light scattering. The inf luence of a homologous series of alkylmaltosides on the self-associati on and aggregation of insulin was investigated. Significant stabilizat ion of insulin was observed for the alkylmaltosides. Circular dichrois m revealed that dodecylmaltoside was the most promising compound from a stabilizer stand point. Using dodecylmaltoside as the model compound , it was found that micelles were formed in the concentration range of the experiments and micell formation appeared to be important for the stabilization of insulin. Moreover, the results may suggest that insu lin partitions into the micelles in an equimolar fashion and that insu lin in this 'mixed micellar' form is relatively stable.