High-performance capillary electrophoresis for the determination of trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitors and their association with trypsin, chymotrypsin and monoclonal antibodies

High-performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE) was adapted for the determination of Kunitz soybean trypsin inhibitor, Bowman Birk inhibitor from soybean and protein-type proteinase inhibitors from pea (Pisum sativum L.). The method was developed for the determination and characterization of the inhibitors, the enzymes trypsin and chymotrypsin and the monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) raised against the inhibitors, and also the inhibitor-enzyme and inhibitor-mAb association complexes. The results from studies involving the use of various types of buffers revealed the advantages of having zwitterions such as trimethylammoniumpropyl sulphonate (AccuPure) or taurine included in the buffer. The use of capillaries dynamically coated with zwitterions efficiently reduced the interactions of the proteins with the silica capillary surface, which was important for the analyses for trypsin, chymotrypsin and mAbs and their association complexes with the inhibitors. The influence of temperature, voltage, pH and buffer type on migration times, resolution, peak areas and number of theoretical plates was investigated for the proteins studied. The proposed HPCE method is very suitable for studies of proteinase inhibitors compared with traditional inhibitor studies, and it gives efficient protein separations with the possibility of 245,000 plates/m.