ALBUMIN SEPARATION WITH CIBACRON-BLUE CARRYING MACROPOROUS CHITOSAN AND CHITIN AFFINITY MEMBRANES

Cibacron Blue F3GA Procion Red HE-3B and Procion Blue MX-R were immobi lized on macroporous chitosan and chitin membranes with concentrations as high as 10-200 mu mol/ml membrane. These dyed membranes were chemi cally and mechanically stable, could be reproducibly prepared, and ope rated at high flow rates. Human serum albumin (HSA) and bovine serum a lbumin (BSA) were selected as model proteins, and their adsorption on and desorption from the dyed chitosan membranes investigated. The Ciba cron Blue F3GA membranes had a higher protein adsorption capacity, muc h greater for HSA than BSA, than the other dyed membranes. About 8.4 m g HSA/ml membrane were adsorbed at saturation by Cibacron Blue F3GA-ch itosan membranes from a 0.05 M Tris-HCl/0.05 M NaCl, pH 8 solution. Th e chitin membranes had a lower dye content and hence a lower protein a dsorption capacity than the chitosan membranes. The effects of importa nt operation parameters (flow rate, protein concentration and loading) were also investigated. Cibacron Blue F3GA-chitosan membranes were em ployed for the separation of HSA from human plasma and high purity HSA thus obtained. This suggests that these membranes could be used for l arge-scale plasma fractionation. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.