The mode of initial adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA) onto positively charged Al2O3 particles was studied as a function of surface coverage (theta). The adsorption isotherm of BSA exhibited saturation (theta = 1) and the existence of an inflection point at theta of 0.82. The relative numbers of ionic groups on a BSA molecule interacting with the Al2O3 surface at various theta were monitored by measuring the relative adsorption density of H+ and OH-, ([Gamma(H+) -Gamma(OH-)]), for BSA-adsorbed Al2O3 using potentiometric titration. The [Gamma(H+) -Gamma(OH-)] curves for Al2O3, BSA, and BSA-adsorbed Al2O3 at various KNO3 concentrations showed a common intersection point (cip) which was the pH giving the acid-base equivalence point, respectively. Compared with the cip's of Al2O3 (5.6) and BSA (5.2), the cip's of BSA-adsorbed Al2O3 were situated at points corresponding to more alkaline pH values over the theta range of 0.13 to 1.0. These results suggested that negatively charged groups, mainly carboxyl groups, on the BSA molecule electrostatically interacted with the Al2O3 surface. The degree of shift in the cip increased gradually with increasing theta from 0.13 to 0.70, while it decreased markedly over the theta range of 0.82 to 1.0. The variation in the cip reflected the change in the total number of ion pairs formed between BSA molecules and Al2O3 The initial rates of BSA desorption during alkali cleaning were low and almost constant over the theta range of 0.13 to 0.70, but increased markedly at theta higher than 0.82. It is suggested that the conformational changes of BSA adsorbed on Al2O3, involving changes in the relative magnitude of electrostatic interaction forces, occur discretely at theta of approximately 0.8.