Separation of human serum albumin components by RP-HPLC and CZE and their characterization by ESI-MS

Human serum albumin (HSA) is one of the most abundant human proteins and has been shown to be heterogeneous. A RP-HPLC method has been developed to separate HSA components in commercially available preparations. Separations were carried out on Aquapore RP-300, C8 columns using gradient elution with a combination of acetonitrile/water mobile phases containing 0.05% trifluoroacetic acid as ion-pairing agent. Optimum resolution was attained on narrow-bore columns using a stepwise, linear gradient that incorporated a shallow intermediate step of 0.20%/min in Mobile Phase B. Under similar elution conditions, separations carried out on standard-size columns showed the expected decrease in resolution due to increased peak widths. A comparative analysis of three commercial products highlighted qualitative and quantitative differences. Capillary zone electrophoresis was used for the analysis of collected RP-HPLC fractions. Results indicated that while the HPLC separation was incomplete, one of the major HPLC peaks was primarily composed of one of the three main components typically separated by CZE. ESI-MS was used to characterize the two major RP-HPLC fractions and also showed that the HPLC separation was incomplete. The MaxEnt transform of the HPLC peaks was consistent with components all being HSA and closely related derivatives.