Rheology of clustering protein solutions

High viscosity is a major challenge with protein therapeutics at extremely high concentrations. To overcome this obstacle, it is essential to understand the relationship between the concentration of a protein solution and its viscosity as a function of shear rate and temperature. Here, lysozyme is a model charged globular protein having both short-ranged attraction (SA) and long-ranged repulsion (LR) that promote the formation of dynamic clusters at high concentrations. We report viscosity measurements from a micro-capillary rheometer (using only several microliters of solution) over a wide range of lysozyme solution concentrations, shear rates, and temperatures. Solution structural relaxation dynamics are also probed by dynamic light scattering (DLS). As a result of lysozyme's SALR interactions, the viscosity increased dramatically across all shear rates with increasing concentration and decreasing temperature. While most of the solutions exhibited Newtonian behavior, shear thinning was exhibited at the highest concentration (480 g/l) and lowest temperatures at shear rates above approximately 10(4) s(-1). The onset shear rate for thinning and a structural relaxation rate estimated from a slow-mode measured by DLS are compared. These measurements provide insights into the properties of protein solutions and their microscopic structural origins. 1932-1058/2016/10(4)/043509/11/$30.00