Zhenxing Chi

New Insights into the Behavior of Bovine Serum Albumin Adsorbed onto Carbon Nanotubes: Comprehensive Spectroscopic Studies

Bovine serum albumin (BSA) nonspecifically binds to well-dispersed multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), forming a stable bioconjugate. After accounting for the inner filter effect, we found the fluorescence intensity of BSA was quenched by MWCNTs in static mode, which was authenticated by lifetime measurements and Stern-Volmer calculations. The thermodynamic parameters DeltaG(o), DeltaS(o), and DeltaH(o) were -9.67 x 10(3) + 2.48 x 10(3) ln lambda J x mol(-1), 41.0 - 0.828 ln lambda J x mol(-1) x K(-1), and 7.30 x 10(3) + 2.23 x 10(3) ln lambda J x mol(-1) (lambda < 1 x 10(-4)), respectively, which shows a spontaneous and electrostatic interaction. Scatchard analysis and UV-visible results provide statistical data concerning changes in the microenvironment of amide moieties in response to different doses of MWCNTs, revealing different behavior of the BSA molecules. The absorption spectra also show that the tertiary structure of the protein was partially destroyed. The content of secondary structure elements of BSA was changed by the tubes. This work elucidates the interaction mechanism of BSA and MWCNTs from a spectroscopic angle.

Phenotypic Characterization of the Binding of Tetracycline to Human Serum Albumin

Because of the widely usage of the veterinary drug tetracycline (TC), its residue exist extensively in the environment (e.g., animal food, soils, surface water, and groundwater) and can enter human body, being potential harmful. Human serum albumin (HSA) is a major transporter for endogenous and exogenous compounds in vivo. The aim of this study was to examine the interaction of HSA with TC through spectroscopic and molecular modeling methods. The inner filter effect was eliminated to get accurate binding parameters. The site marker competition experiments revealed that TC binds to site II (subdomain IIIA) of HSA mainly through electrostatic interaction, illustrated by the calculated negative ΔH° and ΔS°. Furthermore, molecular docking was applied to define the specific binding sites, the results of which show that TC mainly interacts with the positively charged amino acid residues Arg 410 and Lys 414 predominately through electrostatic force, in accordance with the conclusion of thermodynamic analysis. The binding of TC can cause conformational and some microenvironmental changes of HSA, revealed by UV-visible absorption, synchronous fluorescence, and circular dichroism (CD) results. The accurate and full basic data in the work is beneficial to clarifying the binding mechanism of TC with HSA in vivo and understanding its effect on protein function during the blood transportation process.

Binding of oxytetracycline to bovine serum albumin: spectroscopic and molecular modeling investigations.

The residue of the widely used veterinary drug oxytetracycline (OTC) in the environment (e.g., animal food, soils, surface water, and groundwater) is potentially harmful. Knowledge of its binding to proteins contributes to the understanding of its toxicity in vivo. This work establishes the binding mode of OTC with bovine serum albumin (BSA) under physiological conditions by spectroscopic methods and molecular modeling techniques. The inner filter effect was eliminated to get accurate data (binding parameters). On the basis of the thermodynamic results and site marker competition experiments, it was considered that OTC binds to site II (subdomain IIIA) of BSA mainly by electrostatic interaction. Furthermore, using the BSA model established with CPHmodels, molecular docking and some other molecular modeling methods were applied to further define that OTC interacts with the Arg 433, Arg 436, Ala 429, and Pro 516 residues of BSA. In addition, UV-visible absorption, synchronous fluorescence, and circular dichroism (CD) results showed that the binding of OTC can cause conformational and some microenvironmental changes of BSA. The work provides accurate and full basic data for clarifying the binding mechanisms of OTC with BSA in vivo and is helpful for understanding its effect on protein function during its transportation and distribution in blood.

Noncovalent interaction of oxytetracycline with the enzyme trypsin.

Oxytetracycline (OTC) is a kind of widely used veterinary drugs. The residue of OTC in the environment (e.g., animal food, soils, surface, and groundwater) is potentially harmful. In this article, the binding mode of OTC with trypsin was investigated using spectroscopic and molecular docking methods. OTC can interact with trypsin with one binding site to form OTC-trypsin complex, resulting in inhibition of trypsin activity and change of the secondary structure and the microenvironment of the tryptophan residues of trypsin. After elimination of the inner filter effect, the association constant, K, was calculated to be K(290K) = 1.36 × 10(5) L mol(-1), K(298K) = 7.30 × 10(4) L mol(-1), and K(307K) = 3.58 × 10(4) L mol(-1) at three different temperatures. The calculated thermodynamic parameters (negative values of ΔH(○) and ΔS(○)) indicated that van der Waals interactions and hydrogen bonds play a major role during the interaction. The molecular docking study revealed that OTC bound into the S1 binding pocket, which illustrates that the trypsin activity was competitively inhibited by OTC, in accordance with the conclusion of the trypsin activity experiment. This work establishes a new strategy to probe the toxicity of OTC and contributes to clarify its molecular mechanism of toxicity in vivo. The combination of spectroscopic and molecular docking methods in this work can be applied to investigate the potential enzyme toxicity of other small organic pollutants and drugs.

Toxic interaction mechanism between oxytetracycline and bovine hemoglobin

Oxytetracycline (OTC) is a kind of widely used veterinary drugs. The residue of OTC in the environment is potentially harmful. In the present work, the interaction between OTC and bovine hemoglobin (BHb) was investigated by fluorescence, synchronous fluorescence, UV-vis absorption, circular dichroism and molecular modeling techniques under physiological conditions. The experimental results showed that OTC can bind with BHb to form complex. The binding process is a spontaneous molecular interaction procedure, in which van der Waals and hydrogen bonds interaction play a major role. The number of binding sites were calculated to be 1.12 (296 K), 1.07 (301 K) and 0.95 (308 K), and the binding constants were of K(296 K)=9.43 x 10(4) Lmol(-1), K(301 K)=4.56 x 10(4) Lmol(-1) and K(308 K)=1.12 x 10(4) Lmol(-1) at three different temperatures. Based on the Förster theory of nonradiative energy transfer, the binding distance between OTC and the inner tryptophan residues of BHb was determined to be 2.37 nm. The results of UV-vis absorption, synchronous fluorescence and CD spectra indicated that OTC can lead to conformational and some microenvironmental changes of BHb, which may affect physiological functions of hemoglobin. The synchronous fluorescence experiment revealed that OTC binds into hemoglobin central cavity, which was verified by molecular modeling study. The work is helpful for clarifying the molecular toxic mechanism of OTC in vivo.

Investigation on the toxic interaction of toluidine blue with calf thymus DNA

The gene toxic interactions of toluidine blue (TB) with calf thymus DNA (ct-DNA) were examined in vitro with UV-visible absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, fluorescence polarization and circular dichroism techniques. The experimental results showed that TB interacted with ct-DNA by two binding modes. At low TB concentrations, TB intercalated into the DNA base pairs. At higher TB concentrations, TB was attached to the negatively charged phosphate groups. For the intercalation binding mode and electrostatic binding mode, the binding constants were 1.76 x1 0(6)L mol(-1) and 6.18 x 10(5)L mol(-1) and the number of binding sites was 0.48 and 0.79, respectively. Circular dichroism results showed that the two binding modes had different effects on the ct-DNA conformation. At high dye concentrations, Z-form DNA appears, while at low TB concentrations, a B to A form transition is observed.

Spectroscopic investigation on the toxic interactions of Ni2+ with bovine hemoglobin.

The toxic interaction between Ni(2+) and bovine hemoglobin (BHb) was investigated using fluorescence spectroscopy, synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorption spectroscopy and circular dichroism spectroscopy (CD) under simulated physiological conditions. The experimental results showed that both dynamic and static quenching occurred simultaneously when Ni(2+) quenched the fluorescence of BHb. The binding site number n, apparent binding constant K(a) and corresponding thermodynamic parameters were measured at different temperatures. There was formation of Ni-BHb complex, but the binding between Ni(2+) and BHb was not strong. The process of the formation of Ni-BHb complex was a spontaneous interaction procedure in which electrostatic interaction played a major role. In addition, UV-vis and CD results showed that the addition of Ni(2+) changed the conformation of BHb.

A new strategy to probe the genotoxicity of silver nanoparticles combined with cetylpyridine bromide

The environmental genotoxic behavior of silver nanoparticles (nanoAg) combined with the detergent cetylpyridine bromide (CPB) was examined in vitro. The experimental results showed that the genotoxicity of nanoAg itself is weak, but nanoAg shows obvious genotoxicity after combined with CPB. The combined materials have a strong coeffect on calf thymus DNA (ctDNA) at a concentration of 3.3 x 10(-6 )gmL(-1) nanoAg and 6.0 x 10(-6) molL(-1) CPB. After the addition of ctDNA to the nanoAg-CPB system, the particles are scattered and the diameter decreases, which indirectly reveal that nanoAg-CPB has genotoxicity.

Toxic effects of different charged metal ions on the target--bovine serum albumin.

In this work, the toxic influence of metallic ions (Na+, Cu2+, Al3+) on the serum albumin were studied by fluorescence, resonance light scattering (RLS), synchronous fluorescence, UV-vis absorption and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. The experimental results indicated that ion electric charge is not the main factor affecting the structure of bovine serum albumin (BSA). Na+ made the structure of BSA tighter and hydrophobicity enhanced, which improved fluorescence intensity, while Cu2+ could react with some functional groups of BSA, making the structure of BSA looser, so that the internal hydrophobic groups such as tryptophan (Trp) and other aromatic residues were gradually exposed. When we observed them with fluorescence spectra, we found fluorescence quenching with increasing Cu2+ dose. Al3+ is shown as little significant influence on the BSA, but BSA was found to aggregate with the dose of Al3+ by means of RLS because of the hydrolysis and ion strength effect of Al3+. The results also proved normal saline could keep lives healthy and good-working as a biological humour, however, heavy metals made harmful effects to the body when they exceeded the minimal effect level (MEL), such as Cu2+ chosen in our work.

New insights into the characterization of the binding of tetracycline analogues with lysozyme: A biophysical study

Tetracycline (TC), chlortetracycline (CTC) and oxytetracycline (OTC) are the most common members of the widely used veterinary drug tetracyclines, the residue of which in the environment can enter human body, being potentially harmful. Lysozyme is a monomeric protein widely distributed in the nature including human beings, having many physiological and pharmaceutical functions. The aim of this study was to examine the interaction of lysozyme with the three tetracyclines (TC, CTC and OTC) through spectroscopic and molecular modeling methods. The experimental results revealed that all the three tetracyclines (TCs) can interact with lysozyme with one binding site to form TCs-lysozyme complex, mainly through electrostatic forces with the affinity order: CTC>TC>OTC. The binding of TCs can cause conformational and some microenvironmental changes of lysozyme. Furthermore, molecular docking was applied to define the specific binding sites, the results of which show that all the three TCs can bind into lysozyme cleft and interact with the key active-site residues Glu 35 or Asp 52, resulting in competitive inhibition of lysozyme activity. The accurate and full basic data in the work is beneficial to clarifying the binding mechanism of TCs with lysozyme in vivo.