Adsorption and activity of lipase from Candida rugosa on the chitosan-modified poly(acrylonitrile-co-maleic acid) membrane surface

Efforts have recently been made to improve the biocompatibility of support surface for enzyme immobilization, which could create a specific microenvironment for the enzymes and thus benefit the enzyme activity. In this work, one natural macromolecule, chitosan, was tethered on the surface of poly(acrylonitrile-co-maleic acid) (PANCMA) membrane to prepare a dual-layer biomimetic support for enzyme immobilization. Lipase from Candida rugosa was immobilized on this dual-layer biomimetic support by adsorption. The properties of the immobilized enzyme were assayed and compared with those of the free one. It was found that the adsorption capacity of lipase on the chitosan-tethered PANCMA membrane increases with the decrease of ionic strength and there is an optimum pH value for the adsorption. The activity retention of the immobilized lipase on the chitosan-tethered membrane by adsorption (54.1%) is higher than that by chemical bonding (44.5%). In comparison with the immobilized lipase by chemical bonding, there is a decrease of the Km value and an increase of the Vmax value for the immobilized lipase by adsorption. Additionally, the experimental results of thermal stabilities indicate that the residual activity of the immobilized lipase at 50 °C is 38% by adsorption and 65% by chemical bonding.