Drug interactions. I. Binding of ascorbic acid and fatty acid ascorbyl esters to bovine serum albumin

Controlling the self-assembly and optical properties of gold nanoclusters and gold nanoparticles biomineralized with bovine serum albumin

While the size-dependent optical properties of BSA-stabilized gold nanoclusters are well known, the time-dependent growth mechanism remains to be described.

Copper and cobalt complexes of carnosine and anserine: production of active oxygen species and its enhancement by 2-mercaptoimidazoles

Phosphate buffer solutions of two dipeptides prevalent in striated muscle, L-carnosine (beta-alanyl-L-histidine) and L-anserine (beta-alanyl-L-1-methylhistidine), produce active oxygen species as measured by bleaching of N,N-dimethyl-4-nitrosoaniline (RNO). Activity is enhanced 5-14-fold in the presence of 2-mercaptoimidazoles such as ergothioneine, carbimazole (3-methyl-2-mercaptoimidazole-1-carboxylate), methimazole (2-mercapto-1-methylimidazole) and 2-mercaptoimidazole but only slightly by thiourea and dimethylthiourea. Activity is proportional to carnosine concentration and to mercaptoimidazole concentration at a fixed concentration of the second component. A variety of imidazoles closely related to carnosine and anserine are inactive, even after addition of transition metal ions. Activity is moderately increased above the pKa of the carnosine imidazole ring (pH 7.2, 7.5 and 8.0) versus below the pKa (pH 6.5 and 6.8). Activity is slightly increased by addition of copper or cobalt ions but not by addition of ferrous or ferric ions. Activity is decreased by Chelex 100 pretreatment of phosphate buffer and stimulated when copper or cobalt ions are added to the chelated buffer but there is no significant stimulation by ferric ions. Catalase eliminates most activity but superoxide dismutase has little effect. We propose that metal-carnosine and metal-anserine complexes produce superoxide and also serve as superoxide dismutases with resultant accumulation of hydrogen peroxide. An unidentified radical produced from hydrogen peroxide subsequently bleaches RNO. From the biological distributions of carnosine, anserine and ergothioneine, we infer that deleterious effects are probably minimal under normal physiological circumstances due to tissue and cellular compartmentalization and to sequestration of these compounds and transition metal ions.

Effect of amino acids, peptides and related compounds on the autooxidation of ascorbic acid

The autooxidation rate of ascorbic acid (AA) at 10(-5) M under aerobic conditions at pH 7.4 was found to be 1.16 mumol/min/l. A number of compounds at low concentrations were found to inhibit this oxidation rate. These were in order of effectiveness: EDTA (10(-6) M) greater than Mercaptoethanol greater than aminoethyl cysteine, oxidized glutathione greater than glycylglycylhistidine greater than glycylhistidyllysine greater than 3-methyl histidine approximately histidine greater than histamine greater than hypertensin greater than cysteic acid greater than imidazole greater than glutamine greater than hydroxyproline, and lysine. All other amino acids and peptides examined had little or no effect on the autooxidation rate of ascorbic acid. Ascorbate solutions, treated with Chelex-100 (divalent chelating resin) or containing low concentrations of EDTA (10(-7) M) did not show a significant reduction of the rate of autooxidation. Of particular interest was the finding that 3-methyl histidine had a significant inhibitory effect on ascorbic acid oxidation whereas 1-methyl histidine had no effect. These data suggest that ascorbic acid forms complexes with certain compounds and that this interaction stabilizes ascorbic acid against auto-oxidation.