Light scattering study of solution properties of bovine serum albumin, insulin, and polystyrene under moderate pressure

Abstract

Brillouin scattering experiments have been performed on very dilute solutions of bovine serum albumin (BSA) in pH=4.7,I=0.1 M NaCl; insulin in pH=7.5,I = 0.1 M NaCl and polystyrene latex suspensions in aqueous medium at room temperatureT = 20₁ °C. The samples were first characterized by quasi-elastic light scattering (QELS) to determine the translational diffusion coefficient (D _T), hydrodynamic radius (R _H), and polydispersity of each of the samples at normal pressure. Subsequently, the samples were subjected to Brillouin scattering studies where the spectrum of the scattered light was analyzed by using a piezo-electric scannend five-pass Fabry-Perot interferometer. The hydrostatic pressure (P) acting on the samples was varied in the range from 1B to 825 B in steps of 100 B each. The pressure dependence of the measured sound velocityV _s (P) could be least square fitted tov _s (P)=A₀ +A ₁ P +A ₂ P ² with experimental error (± 1 %). This data has been interpreted consistent with an earlier work within the framework of modified Tait's equation of state and presumption of linear pressure dependence of the adiabatic bulk modulus in the moderate pressure regime.