Rheo-kinetics of bovine serum albumin in catanionic surfactant systems

The effects of catanionic surfactant systems consisting of mixtures of cationic cetyltrimethylamonium bromide (CTAB) and anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) on the rheological properties and kinetics of bovine serum albumin (BSA) were investigated. The ionic strength of the solution was varied by using different mixing ratio of SDS and CTAB. Gelation curves observed in dynamic viscoelastic measurements were fitted with gelation kinetics models to describe the gelation under isothermal and non-isothermal conditions. Overall, the gelation of BSA in cationic-rich solutions was found to be more energetically favorable when compared with BSA solvated in anionic-rich solutions. Consequently, highest gel temperature (Tgel) and time (tgel) were observed for anionic-rich solutions with SDS/CTAB molar ratio of 4.0 (i.e., SDS/CTAB=4.0), while lowest gel temperature and time were found for cationic-rich solutions with SDS/CTAB molar ratio of 0.25 (SDS/CTAB=0.25). BSA in equal molar ratio of the mixed surfactants (SDS/CTAB=1.0) showed a gel temperature and time in the halfway between the anionic and cationic-rich regions. Interestingly, under isothermal and non-isothermal conditions, BSA in equimolarly mixed and anionic-rich solutions showed a heat-dependent protective effect against thermal denaturation and gelation. The protective effect on BSA gelation in equimolar and anionic-rich solutions was diminished by increasing the catanionic concentration under non-isothermal conditions, while under isothermal conditions, protective effect on BSA gelation increased with catanionic concentration. On the other hand, cationic-rich solutions did not protect BSA from thermal denaturation and gelation, and therefore the gelation rate increased with catanionic concentration in all heating conditions examined.