Synthesis of magnetic NaY zeolite for plasma proteomics application

Magnetically modified NaY zeolite has shown advantages in high-throughput and large-scale clinical plasma proteomic studies. In this study, magnetic NaY zeolite was prepared via an improved method, "layer by layer adhesion", using epoxy adhesive. The morphology, structure, and magnetic properties of magnetic NaY zeolite were characterized and tested by scanning electron microscope (SEM), fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and using sodium dodecyl sulfonate-polyacrylamide gelelectrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS) for plasma proteomics studies. The results showed that NaY zeolite was coated on the surface of Fe3O4 by epoxy adhesive, and such coating did not affect the surface properties of the magnetic zeolite. The saturation magnetization of magnetic NaY zeolite was measured as 9.964 emu g−1. Approximately 2929 proteins could be identified from plasma protein corona formed on magnetic NaY zeolite, reaching 97.6 % of the identification number of pure NaY zeolite. Furthermore, compared with NaY zeolite, the solid-liquid separation processes of magnetic zeolite during plasma proteomics studies were significantly reduced from half an hour to few minutes. Due to excellent plasma protein adsorption performance and rapid magnetic separation property, magnetic NaY zeolite is expected to become a powerful tool for the large-scale adsorption of low-abundant plasma proteins and high-throughput proteomic studies.