Characterize the interaction between polyethylenimine and serum albumin using surface plasmon resonance and fluorescence method

Polyethylenimine (PEI) is a type of cationic polymer which is efficient in DNA transfer. The characters of PEI binding to bovine serum albumin and human serum albumin (HSA) were described by fluorescence quenching, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. The fluorescence quenching results showed that the binding processes occurred on the surface of the protein molecules. The accurate binding constants between PEI and the two proteins were obtained by SPR spectroscopy. The CD spectra results showed that the confirmations of the two proteins were affected with the addition of PEI.