Abstract: On the basis of low density lipoprotein (LDL) adsorption on matrix-bound tryptophan,a new LDL adsorbent was prepared with indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) as a ligand,which had indole group in its chemical structure just as tryptophan. Macroporous polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) beads were obtained by suspension copolymerization of vinyl acetate and triallyl isocyanurate in the presence of porogen,followed by subsequent alcoholysis step. The PVA beads were allowed to react with epichlorohydrin,and the thus obtained epoxidized beads were then reacted with several polyamines to introduce space arms with different lengths. IAA was then coupled to the spacer-attaching beads by using DCC/HOBt method employed usually in polypeptide synthesis. The primary in vitro adsorption tests show that the resultant adsorbents provide a satisfactory binding capacity for LDL,and manifest much larger capacity than the adsorbent prepared by direct immobilization of tryptophan on the epoxy-activated PVA beads. This proves that indole groups do play an important part in binding LDL.

Key words: Low density lipoprotein, Adsorption, Indole-3-acetic acid, Tryptophan, Macroporous PVA beads, Poly(vinyl alcohol), Sulfonation, Spacer arm, Low density lipoprotein