Synthesis of F16 conjugated with 5-fluorouracil and biophysical investigation of its interaction with bovine serum albumin by a spectroscopic and molecular modeling approach.

5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) has been widely used as a chemotherapy agent in the treatment of many types of solid tumors. Investigation of its antimetabolites led to the development of an entire class of fluorinated pyrimidines. However, the toxicity profile associated with 5-FU is significant and includes diarrhea, mucositis, hand-foot syndrome and myelosuppression. In aiming at reducing of the side effects of 5-FU, we have designed and synthesized delocalized lipophilic cations (DLCs) as a vehicle for the delivery of 5-FU. DLCs accumulate selectively in the mitochondria of cancer cells because of the high mitochondrial transmembrane potential (ΔΨm). Many DLCs exhibited anti-cancer efficacy and were explored as potential anti-cancer drugs based on their selective accumulation in the mitochondria of cancer cells. F16, the DLC we used as a vehicle, is a small molecule that selectively inhibits tumor cell growth and dissipates mitochondrial membrane potential. The binding of the conjugate F16-5-FU to bovine serum albumin (BSA) was investigated using spectroscopic and molecular modeling approaches. Fluorescence quenching constants were determined using the Stern-Volmer equation to provide a measure of the binding affinity between F16-5-FU and BSA. The activation energy of the interaction between F16-5-FU and BSA was calculated and the unusually high value was discussed in terms of the special structural block indicated by the molecular modeling approach. Molecular modeling showed that F16-5-FU binds to human serum albumin in site II, which is consistent with the results of site-competitive replacement experiments. It is suggested that hydrophobic and polar forces played important roles in the binding reaction, in accordance with the results of thermodynamic experiments.

Characterization of the mechanism of the Staphylococcus aureus cell envelope by bacitracin and bacitracin-metal ions.

Bacitracin is a metal-dependent dodecapeptide antipeptide produced by Bacillus species. Microcalorimetry was used to study the antimicrobial activity of bacitracin and bacitracin-metal ion complexation inhibited on Staphylococcus aureus at 37 degrees C. The affinity of metal ions binding to bacitracin was investigated by isothermal titration calorimetry and was as follows: Cu(II) >or= Ni(II) > Co(II) > Zn(II) >or= Mn(II). The metal ion binding affinity is not relative to the antimicrobial activity of bacitracin-metal complexation. Atomic force microscopic images revealed that the surface of S. aureus treated by bacitracin-Zn(II) was rather rough compared to that treated by bacitracin only. The central cell surface displayed small depressed grooves around the septal annulus at the onset of division. Bacitracin mainly inhibited the splitting system within the thick cross walls as seen by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The inhibition mechanism of bacitracin may be relative to the assistance of Zn(II) coordination with the cell surface as seen by TEM. We can put forward that the activity of bacitracin only inhibited growth and division initially from the synthesis of the cell wall, especially the cell wall of the septal annulus. The divalent metal ions function to increase the adsorption of bacitracin onto the cell surface.

Conformation, thermodynamics and stoichiometry of HSA adsorbed to colloidal CdSe/ZnS quantum dots.

Water-soluble luminescent colloidal quantum dots (QDs) have attracted great attention in biological and medical applications. In particular, for any potential in vivo application, the interaction of QDs with human serum albumin (HSA) is crucial. As a step toward the elucidation of the fate of QDs introduced to organism, the interactions between QDs and HSA were systematically investigated by various spectroscopic techniques under the physiological conditions. It was proved that binding of QDs and HSA is a result of the formation of QDs-HSA complex and electrostatic interactions play a major role in stabilizing the complex. The modified Stern-Volmer quenching constant K(a) at different temperatures and corresponding thermodynamic parameters DeltaH, DeltaG and DeltaS were calculated. Furthermore, the site marker competitive experiments revealed that the binding location of QDs with HSA is around site I, centered at Lys199. The conformational changes of HSA induced by QDs have been analyzed by means of CD and FT-IR. The results suggested that HSA underwent substantial conformational changes at both secondary and tertiary structure levels. The stoichiometry of HSA attached to QDs was obtained by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and zeta-potential.

Studies on interaction between Vitamin B12 and human serum albumin.

The binding reaction between Vitamin B12 (B12, cyanocobalamin) and human serum albumin (HSA) was investigated by fluorescence quenching, UV-vis absorption and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. Under simulative physiological conditions, fluorescence quenching data revealed that the quenching constants (Ksv) are 3.99 x 10(4), 4.33 x 10(4), 4.76 x 10(4) and 5.16 x 10(4) M(-1) at 292, 298, 304 and 310 K, respectively. The number of binding sites, n is almost constant around 1.0. On the basis of the results of fluorescence quenching the mechanism of the interaction of B12 with HSA has been found to be a dynamic quenching procedure. Thermodynamic parameters DeltaHTheta= -13.38 kJ mol(-1), DeltaSTheta=66.73 J mol(-1) K(-1) were calculated based on the binding constant. These suggested that the binding reaction was enthalpy and entropy driven, and the electrostatic interaction played major role in stabilizing the reversible complex. The binding distance r=5.5 nm between HSA and B12 was obtained according to Förster theory of energy transfer. The effect of B12 on the conformation of HSA was analyzed by synchronous fluorescence and CD spectroscopy. Synchronous spectra indicated that the polarity around the tryptophan (Trp214) residues of HSA was decreased and its hydrophobicity was increased; however, the alpha-helix content of the protein was predominant in the secondary structure but the CD spectra indicated that B12 induced minor conformational changes of HSA.

Probing the binding of morin to human serum albumin by optical spectroscopy.

Morin [2-(2,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-3,5,7-trihydroxy-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one], a member of flavonols, is an important bioactive compound by interacting with nucleic acids, enzymes and protein. Its binding to human serum albumin was investigated by fluorescence quenching, fluorescence anisotropy, and UV-vis absorbance under the simulative physiological condition. Fluorescence quenching data show that the interaction of morin with HSA forms a non-fluorescent complex with the binding constants of 1.394 x 10(5), 1.489 x 10(5), 1.609 x 10(5) and 1.717 x 10(5)M(-1) at 292, 298, 303 and 310 K, respectively. The thermodynamics parameters, enthalpy change (DeltaH) and entropy change (DeltaS) were calculated to be 8.97 kJ mol(-1) and 129.15 J mol(-1)K(-1) via van't Hoff equation. From the spectroscopic results and thermodynamics parameters, it is observed that van der Waals and hydrogen bonds are predominant intermolecular forces when forming the complex. The distance r=4.25 nm between donor (Trp214) and accepter (morin) was estimated based on the Förster theory of non-radiative energy transfer. The red shift of UV-vis absorbance shows that morin is bound to several amino acids on the hydrophobic pocket of HSA. Moreover, the competitive probes, such as warfarin and ibuprofen (site I and II probes, respectively), reveal that the binding location of morin to HSA in the site I of the hydrophobic pocket, which corresponds to the results of UV-vis absorbance, while morin also binds other lower affinity binding sites on HSA from the fluorescence anisotropy spectroscopy.

Interaction of loratadine with serum albumins studied by fluorescence quenching method.

The interactions between loratadine and bovine serum albumin (BSA) and human serum albumin (HSA) were studied using tryptophan fluorescence quenching method. The fluorescence intensity of the two serum albumins could be quenched 70% at the molar ratio [loratadine]:[BSA (or HSA)]=10:1. In the linear range (0-50 micromol L(-1)) quenching constants were calculated using Stern-Volmer equation. Temperature in the range 298 K-310 K had a significant effect (p<0.05) on the two serum albumins through ANOVA analysis and t-test. Furthermore the conformation changes in the interactions were studied using FTIR spectroscopy.