PEI-crosslinked lipase on the surface of magnetic microspheres and its characteristics

Here, PEI@PMMA microspheres were prepared by grafting polyethyleneimine (PEI) on poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) magnetic microspheres and successfully used to immobilize lipase. The results showed that PEI@PMMA microspheres had strongly adsorbed lipase (49.1 mg/g microsphere) via electrostatic attraction. To prevent lipase shedding, the adsorbed lipase was further crosslinked with PEI on microspheres using glutaraldehyde as crosslinker. Consequently, PEI-crosslinked lipase (2.14 U/mg) exhibited 2.6 times and 1.4 times higher activity respectively than the directly covalent lipase (0.82 U/mg) and the crosslinked lipase aggregates (1.57 U/mg), which was close to the activity of adsorbed lipase (2.20 U/mg). Conformational analysis from FTIR spectroscopy showed that PEI-crosslinked lipase retained its natural structure well. And the alpha-helix structure seemed to play a key role in enhancing lipase activity. Furthermore, the effects of various parameters on crosslinking reaction were investigated. Also, PEI-crosslinked lipase revealed higher pH and thermal stability. The Michaelis constant (K-m) was increased and the optimum temperature of lipase was widened observably after crosslinking with PEI on PEI@PMMA magnetic microspheres.