Single haemoglobin nanocapsules as test materials for artificial blood

Abstract

Single protein nanocapsules (SPNs) means that each individual protein molecules are coated with a very thin polymer layer. The polymer chains which are porous enough to allow enzymatic functions are bound covalently to the protein molecule. According to our previous results the polymer layer can essentially stabilize different types of enzymes, e.g. its stability became to 50-70 times longer than that of the native ones. The heat stability (at 80 °C SPNs has activity after 24 hours) and the pH-stability (from pH = 1.5 to pH = 12.0) of the covered enzyme can essentially be improved comparing to the native enzymes. Our results show, that SPNs have a good features as drug carriers: acrylamide-bisacrylamide copolymer layer can carries bovine serum albumin molecules across the blood brain barrier in rat brain. We synthesized single haemoglobin nanocapsules with acrylamide-bisacrylamide copolymer on the surface of the molecules (PAAHgB) and their size, homogeneity, aggregation status, zeta potential were investigated compared with other nanomaterials.