Measurement of Protein Adsorption to Solid Surfaces in Relation to Blood Compatibility Using Radioiodine Labelling Methods

Radiolabelling is one of the most useful and powerful experimental methods for the study of protein adsorption at solid-solution interfaces (Andrade, 1985; Brash & Horbett, 1987). It consists of incorporating a radioactive nuclide into the molecular structure of the protein to be studied, and then counting the surface-bound radioactivity following contact of the material with the protein solution to which the labelled protein is added. In general the radiolabelling technique provides data of high precision on the amount of protein adsorbed under given conditions. When adsorption from plasma or blood is studied, such data may serve as a significant indication of the blood compatibility of the contacting solid surface.