Steady-state fluorescence and circular dichroism of trout hemoglobins I and IV interacting with tributyltin

Interactions of Alkyltin Salts with Biological Dithiols: Dealkylation and Induction of a Regular β-Turn Structure in Peptides

Organotin compounds specifically target vicinal dithiols, thereby inhibiting the function of essential enzymes. Here, we present the NMR binding studies of trimethyltin (TMT) and dimethyltin (DMT) chlorides with a linear peptide (ILGCWCYLR) derived from the membrane protein stannin (SNN). We show that this peptide is able to dealkylate TMT and bind DMT, adopting a stable type-I beta-turn conformation. Both the NMR data and the calculated structures indicate that the two cysteines coordinate the tin atom in a distorted tetrahedral geometry. The molecular geometries and tin coordination state were confirmed using density functional theory (DFT). In addition, NMR spectral parameters back calculated from the DFT minimized structure compared well with experimental data. These results in conjunction with studies on peptide variants (i.e., C4S, C6S, and Y7F) demonstrate unequivocally the key role of biological dithiols in both the dealkylation and binding of organotin compounds. This peptide serves as a model system for alkyltin-protein interactions and gives new insights into the biological fate of alkyltin compounds.

Correlation between functional and structural changes of reduced and oxidized trout hemoglobins I and IV at different pHs. A circular dichroism study

Circular dichroism (CD) spectra of two major hemoglobin components (Hb), HbI and HbIV, from Oncorhyncus mykiss (formerly Salmo irideus) trout were evaluated in the range 250-600 nm. HbI is characterized by a complete insensitivity to pH changes, while HbIV presents the Root effect. Both reduced [iron(II) or oxy] and oxidized (met) forms of the two proteins were studied at different pHs, 7.8 and 6.0, to obtain information about the pH effects on the structural features of these hemoglobins. Data obtained show that oxy and met-HbI are almost insensitive to pH decrease, remaining in the R conformational state also at low pH. On the contrary, the pH decrease induces similar structural changes, characteristics of ligand dissociation and R-->T transition, both in the reduced and in the oxidized HbIV. The structural changes, monitored by CD, are compared with the peroxidative activity of iron(II)-Hb and met-Hb forms and with the superoxide anion scavenger capacity of the proteins.

Fluorescence study on rat epithelial cells and liposomes exposed to aromatic nitroxides

This study was performed to evaluate the effects, if any, of aromatic nitroxides, namely, indolinic nitroxides, on membrane fluidity of rat epithelial cells using steady-state fluorescence. These nitroxides are being increasingly considered as new and versatile compounds to reduce oxidative stress in biological systems. Hence, the results obtained in this study will give more insights on the interaction of these compounds with biological structures which at present is lacking, especially in view of their possible application as antioxidant therapeutic agents. The probes DPH and Laurdan which give information on the hydrophobic and hydrophilic-hydrophobic regions of the membrane bilayer, respectively, showed that nitroxide 1 (1,2-dihydro-2-methyl-3H-indole-3-one-1-oxyl) significantly increases membrane fluidity, whereas the corresponding phenylimino nitroxide derivative 2 (1,2-dihydro-2-methyl-3H-indole-3-phenylimino-1-oxyl) leads to membrane rigidification. The aliphatic nitroxide TEMPO included in this study for comparison produced no modifications. Consequently, it appears that the structure of the heterocyclic rings (aromatic or aliphatic) and the substituents may affect membrane fluidity differently.

Deoxyhemoglobin-mediated lipid oxidation in washed fish muscle

Deoxyhemoglobin-mediated lipid oxidation was studied by comparing the pro-oxidative activity of anodic and cathodic hemoglobins from trout in a washed cod muscle model system. At pH 6.3, cathodic hemoglobins were nearly fully oxygenated while anodic hemoglobins were poorly oxygenated. Anodic hemoglobins initiated lipid oxidation in washed cod muscle much more rapidly than cathodic hemoglobins, as measured by thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) formation. Moreover, anodic hemoglobins appeared to oxidize more rapidly as compared to cathodic hemoglobins in the washed cod muscle model system, as measured by a decrease in redness (a value). A more pronounced pro-oxidative activity of deoxyhemoglobin as compared to oxyhemoglobin was confirmed by accelerated lipid hydroperoxide and TBARS formation in the washed cod muscle model system upon combined addition of anodic hemoglobins and adenosine triphosphate, which is known to lower the oxygenation of anodic hemoglobins at pH 7.2, as compared to only addition of anodic hemoglobins to the washed cod muscle. These studies suggest that deoxyhemoglobin is more pro-oxidative than its oxygenated counterpart at pH values found in postmortem fish muscle.