Eur. Phys. J. E (2011) 34: 87
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2011-11087-6

Regular Article

SAXS study on myoglobin embedded in amorphous saccharide matrices

¹ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Palermo, via Archirafi 36, I-90123, Palermo, Italy
² Istituto per lo Studio dei Materiali Nanostrutturati, CNR, via U. La Malfa 153, I-90146, Palermo, Italy

^* e-mail: giuffrid@fisica.unipa.it

Received: 31 March 2011
Accepted: 4 July 2011
Published online: 22 September 2011

Abstract

We report on Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) measurements performed on samples of carboxy-myoglobin and met-myoglobin embedded in low hydrated matrices of four different saccharides (trehalose, sucrose, maltose and lactose). Results confirm the already reported occurrence of inhomogeneities, which are not peculiar of trehalose samples, but appear also in maltose and lactose, and in some cases also sucrose, being dependent on the sample hydration and on the presence of sodium dithionite. This behaviour confirms our previous interpretation about the nature of the inhomogeneities, and prompt it as a possible general behaviour for highly concentrated sugar matrices.