A comparison of the physical properties of ultrasonically synthesized lysozyme- and BSA-shelled microbubbles

Abstract

Ultrasonic technique has been used for synthesising protein microspheres possessing specific physical and functional properties. Various proteins have been used as shell materials under different experimental conditions. In previous studies, thermal or chemical denaturation of the proteins was used to obtain stable bovine-serum albumin (BSA) and lysozyme microbubbles (MBs), respectively. It is ideal to establish a generic procedure to synthesise microspheres irrespective of the nature of the protein. In order to see if a generic procedure can be established, ultrasonic synthesis of lysozyme and BSA MBs was carried out under similar experimental conditions and their properties were evaluated. The size, size distribution and the stability of the MBs were significantly different for the lysozyme and BSA MBs. The size and size distribution of the lysozyme coated MBs were larger than BSA bubbles. The mechanical strength of MBs against the shear forces, generated when irradiated by high frequency ultrasound, was studied using pulsed-sonoluminescence (SL). This study indicated that lysozyme MBs were significantly more stable than BSA MBs. An increase in mechanical strength of the MBs may lead to an increase in their storage lifetime and stability against gas diffusion. Possible reasons for such observations have been discussed.

Keywords: Acoustic cavitation; BSA; Lysozyme; Microbubbles; Ultrasonics.