Investigating the possibility of enzyme immobilization on copper-based memory alloys



Shape memory alloys are special materials  with thermoelastic martensitic transformation, which produces unusual macroscopic effects. Even today, after 85 years since the discovery of the phenomenon of shape memory and 60 years since the invention of nitinol - the most famous  shape memory alloy, research is being carried out all over the world in order to design materials that will be characterized by an optimal combination of the degree of shape recovery, temperatures of phase transformation, mechanical properties, corrosion resistance and biocompatibility. Since the design of products based on the shape memory effect is considered as a revolutionary process and not as process in progress, a lot of data related to the design of the microstructure in order to achieve the desired properties for certain filds of application (production of security systems, automotive, pharmaceutical and military industries, space technology, medicine, dentistry) is not the public  available.

In the 1990s, the first research on thermoelastic martensitic transformation in copper-based alloys was carried out at the Faculty of Metallurgy and Technology in Podgorica in cooperation with colleagues from the Copper Institute in Bor. In order to define the correlative relationships between the chemical composition of alloys, thermomechanical treatment and exploitation conditions, as well as the stabilization of martensite and the persistence of shape memory, research was continued in the following years within the framework of national scientific research projects.

Today, the main topic of our research is the corrosion behavior of copper-based shape memory alloys in saline ( medicine). Since the combination of biological molecules and new components of biomaterials is of great importance in the development processes of new nanoscale devices for use in biomedicine and electronics, the research team from the Faculty of Metallurgy and Technology, University of Montenegro in cooperation with colleagues prof. Dr. Safijo Herenda and prof. Edhem Hasković, Ph.D., from the Faculty of Science, University of Sarajevo, is investigating in vitro biomedical corrosion and inhibition of enzyme activity on a modified Cu-Zn-Al bioalloy. After the first phase of the conducted tests, an amperometric biosensor for the determination of H2O2 was successfully formed. The catalase enzyme was immobilized on the surface of the Cu-25.38Zn-3.3Al shape memory alloy. Immobilized catalase was found to retain its biological activity and exhibit a good electrocatalytic response to H2O2 reduction, which is seen as a marker of oxidative stress in aging-related diseases including Alzheimers disease, cardiovascular disorders, and cancer. The results of the research show high biocompatibility, a large specific surface area for enzyme loading, as well as good electron transfer between the electrode and catalase. In the second phase of the research, the application of shape memory alloys of different chemical composition with an immobilized enzyme will be studied, the inhibition of the activity of the enzyme immobilized on the memory alloy with different biomolecules (amino acids or different active substances of drugs), as well as the determination of the thermodynamic properties of the memory alloys and the rate of corrosion in different physiological solutions.

Contact

Prof. Vanja Asanović, PhD

e-mail: vanjaa@ucg.ac.me

Prof. Jelena Šćepanović, PhD

e-mail: jelenapj@ucg.ac.me

 

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