Purification of lysozyme by intrinsically shielded hydrogel beads

Macro-sized intrinsically shielded hydrogel beads have been prepared from BSA and CM-dextran grafted with CB using a technique based on freeze-thawing gelation method. The size of the beads lies in around 500 μm. Isothemal titration calorimetry (ITC) showed that the relative binding affinities of the lysozyme for CB, compared with BSA, at pH 3.0 was stronger than that at pH 7.4. They were employed for the affinity separation of lysozyme using chromatography column. Their adsorption capacity for lysozyme at pH 3.0 is higher than that at pH 9. In a binary mixture of lysozyme and ovalbumin, the beads showed very high selectivity toward lysozyme. Lysozyme of very high purity (> 93%) was obtained from a mixture of lysozyme and ovalbumin, and 85% from egg white solution. The results indicate that the macro-sized bead can be used for the separation, purification, and recovery of lysozyme in a chromatograph column.