Molecular imprinted based microcryogels for thrombin purification

In addition to understanding and explaining the functions of proteins, the need for low-cost, easy and efficient purification methods has been increasing in the field of protein purification, which is also important for enzyme production. In this context, an alternative approach has been developed for the purification of thrombin, which has a crucial role in the hemostatic process, via thrombin imprinted microcryogels that allow reuse and have high selectivity. The characterization studies of the microcryogels were accomplished with micro-computed tomography (& mu;CT), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), optical microscope, surface area measurements (BET analyses) and swelling test measurements. By scanning various parameters affecting thrombin adsorption, the maximum thrombin adsorption capacity (Qmax) was found to be 55.86 mg/g. Also, the selectivity of microcryogels was investigated with the competitive agents and reusability studies were performed. The purity of thrombin was evaluated by Fast Performance Liquid Chromatography (FPLC) method. Experimental results indicated that adsorption of thrombin by the developed microcryogels fit the Langmuir isotherm model (Qmax: 55.86 mg/g, R2: 0.9505) and pseudo-second order for three different thrombin concentrations (R2: 0.9978, R2: 0.9998, R2: 0.9999).