The hydration of proteins in solutions by self-diffusion coefficients NMR study

The hydration of the globular (lysozyme, albumin) and fibrillar (fibrinogen) proteins in solution has been determined from the measurements of the self-diffusion coefficient by NMR pulsed gradient method. It has been concluded that the concentration dependencies of the self-diffusion coefficient of water molecules in protein solution are controlled by two additive factors: obstruction effect correlated with the protein dimension and direct hydration effect proportional to the number of the adsorption sites on the protein surface.