Application of the 19F NMR Technique to Observe Binding of the General Anesthetic Halothane to Human Serum Albumin

Brønsted acid catalysis - the effect of 3,3'-substituents on the structural space and the stabilization of imine/phosphoric acid complexes

BINOL derived chiral phosphoric acids (CPAs) are widely known for their high selectivity. Numerous 3,3'-substituents are used for a variety of stereoselective reactions and theoretical models of their effects are provided. However, experimental data about the structural space of CPA complexes in solution is extremely rare and so far restricted to NMR investigations of binary TRIP/imine complexes featuring two E- and two Z-imine conformations. Therefore, in this paper the structural space of 16 CPA/imine binary complexes is screened and 8 of them are investigated in detail by NMR. For the first time dimers of CPA/imine complexes in solution were experimentally identified, which show an imine position similar to the transition state in transfer hydrogenations. Furthermore, our experimental and computational data revealed an astonishing invariance of the four core structures regardless of the different steric and electronic properties of the 3,3'-substituent. However, a significant variation of E/Z-ratios is observed, demonstrating a strong influence of the 3,3'-substituents on the stabilization of the imine in the complexes. These experimental E/Z-ratios cannot be reproduced by calculations commonly applied for mechanistic studies, despite extensive conformational scans and treatment of the electronic structure at a high level of theory with various implicit solvent corrections. Thus, these first detailed experimental data about the structural space and influence of the 3,3'-substituent on the energetics of CPA/imine complexes can serve as basis to validate and improve theoretical predictive models.

Glycation of human serum albumin impairs binding to the glucagon-like peptide-1 analogue liraglutide

The long-acting glucagon-like peptide-1 analogue liraglutide has proven efficiency in the management of type 2 diabetes and also has beneficial effects on cardiovascular diseases. Liraglutide's protracted action highly depends on its capacity to bind to albumin via its palmitic acid part. However, in diabetes, albumin can undergo glycation, resulting in impaired drug binding. Our objective in this study was to assess the impact of human serum albumin (HSA) glycation on liraglutide affinity. Using fluorine labeling of the drug and ¹⁹F NMR, we determined HSA affinity for liraglutide in two glycated albumin models. We either glycated HSA in vitro by incubation with glucose (G25- or G100-HSA) or methylglyoxal (MGO-HSA) or purified in vivo glycated HSA from the plasma of diabetic patients with poor glycemic control. Nonglycated commercial HSA (G0-HSA) and HSA purified from plasma of healthy individuals served as controls. We found that glycation decreases affinity for liraglutide by 7-fold for G100-HSA and by 5-fold for MGO-HSA compared with G0-HSA. A similarly reduced affinity was observed for HSA purified from diabetic individuals compared with HSA from healthy individuals. Our results reveal that glycation significantly impairs HSA affinity to liraglutide and confirm that glycation contributes to liraglutide's variable therapeutic efficiency, depending on diabetes stage. Because diabetes is a progressive disease, the effect of glycated albumin on liraglutide affinity found here is important to consider when diabetes is managed with this drug.

Achievement of 1 H-19 F heteronuclear experiments using the conventional spectrometer with a shared single high band amplifier

The (1)H-(19) F heteronuclear NMR experiments were achieved using the conventional spectrometer equipped with a single high band amplifier and a (1)H/(19)F/(13) C double-tuned probe. Although double high band amplifiers are generally required to perform such experiments, a simple modification of pathway in the conventional spectrometer was capable of acquiring various (1)H-(19)F heteronuclear spectra. The efficiency of the present technique was demonstrated in an application for (19)F{(1)H} and (1)H{(19)F} saturation transfer difference experiments.

The interaction of fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) inhibitors with an anandamide carrier protein using (19)F-NMR

It has been reported that the endocannabinoid anandamide (AEA) binds to a class of fatty acid-binding proteins and serum albumin which can serve as carrier proteins and potentiate the cellular uptake of AEA and its intracellular translocation. Here, we employed (19)F nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to study the interactions of serum albumin with two inhibitors of fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), the enzyme involved in the deactivation of anandamide. We found that, for both inhibitors AM5206 and AM5207, the primary binding site on serum albumin is drug site 1 located at subdomain IIA. Neither inhibitor binds to drug site 2. While AM5207 binds exclusively to drug site 1, AM5206 also interacts with other fatty acid-binding sites on serum albumin. Additionally, AM5206 has an affinity for serum albumin approximately one order of magnitude higher than that of AM5207. The data suggest that interactions of FAAH inhibitors with albumin may provide added advantages for their ability to modulate endocannabinoid levels for a range of applications including analgesia, antiemesis, and neuroprotection.

Characterizing the binding of nucleotide ATP on serum albumin by 31P NMR diffusion

The pulsed-field-gradient (PFG) 31P NMR diffusion spectra were measured under varied sample conditions to characterize the low-affinity binding of adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) on human serum albumin (HSA) or bovine serum albumin (BSA). The NMR diffusion constants of ATP, ATP–HSA, or ATP–BSA were illustrated as function of ATP concentrations. The binding curves of ATP–HSA and ATP–BSA were identical but strikingly different from the ATP curve. Using a “Scatchard plot”, the apparent binding constant (K) and number of ATP binding sites (n) on serum albumin were evaluated as K = 75.25 (mol/L)–1 and n = 10, respectively. At a pH < 5.0 and a pH > 9.0 or a temperature > 45 °C, the diffusion data of ATP–HSA were found to increase remarkably, suggesting that the dissociation of ATP from HSA was largely enhanced, probably because of pH- or heat-induced protein structural change, degradation, or aggregation. In addition, our data indicated that ADP was strongly competitive with ATP for the low-affinity binding to HSA, but heptanone and Cl– were essentially noncompetitive. These results are important for further elucidating the interaction of ATP with serum albumin and its possible effect on related bioprocesses. The method can be well applied to study the binding of other nucleotides/nucleosides on proteins.

Halothane solvation in water and organic solvents from molecular simulations with new polarizable potential function

The partitioning of a substrate from one phase into another is a complex process with widespread applications: from chemical technology to the pharmaceutical industry. One particularly well-known and well-studied example is 2-bromo-2-chloro-1,1,1-trifluoroethane (halothane) trafficking through the lipid bilayer. Halothane is a model volatile anesthetic known to impact functions of model lipid bilayers, altering the structure and thickness upon its partitioning from the bulk phase. A number of theoretical and experimental investigations suggest the importance of electronic polarizability, determining a preference for halothane to partition in the interfacial systems as in lipid bilayers or binary solvents. The recently published protocol for the development of polarizable force fields based on the classical Drude model has provided fresh impetus to efforts directed at understanding the molecular principles governing complex thermodynamics of the hydrophobic hydration. Here, molecular simulations were combined with free energy simulations to study solvation of halothane in polarizable water and methanol. The absolute free energy of halothane solvation in different solvents (water, methanol, and n-hexane) has been evaluated for additive and polarizable models. It was found that both additive and polarizable models provide an adequate description of the halothane solvation in high-dielectric (polar) solvents such as water, but explicit accounting for electronic polarization is imperative for a correct description of the solvation thermodynamics in nonpolar systems. To study halothane dynamics in binary mixtures, all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for halothane-methanol mixtures in a wide range of concentrations were performed alongside an analysis of structural organization, dynamics, and thermodynamic properties to dissect the molecular determinants of the halothane solvation in polar and amphiphilic liquids such as methanol. Additionally, a theoretical test of the hypothesis on the weak hydrogen bonding of halothane and methanol in the condensed phase is provided, which was presented on the basis of spectroscopic analysis of the C-H vibrations in different gas-phase complexes. The simulations performed in the condensed phase suggest that hydrophobic interactions between halothane and methanol play a dominant role in preferential solvation.

Volatile anesthetic binding to proteins is influenced by solvent and aliphatic residues

The main objective of this work was to characterize VA binding sites in multiple anesthetic target proteins. A computational algorithm was used to quantify the solvent exclusion and aliphatic character of amphiphilic pockets in the structures of VA binding proteins. VA binding sites in the protein structures were defined as the pockets with solvent exclusion and aliphatic character that exceeded minimum values observed in the VA binding sites of serum albumin, firefly luciferase, and apoferritin. We found that the structures of VA binding proteins are enriched in these pockets and that the predicted binding sites were consistent with experimental determined binding locations in several proteins. Autodock3 was used to dock the simulated molecules of 1,1,1,2,2-pentafluoroethane, difluoromethyl 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethyl ether, and sevoflurane and the isomers of halothane and isoflurane into these potential binding sites. We found that the binding of the various VA molecules to the amphiphilic pockets is driven primarily by VDW interactions and to a lesser extent by weak hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions. In addition, the trend in Delta G binding values follows the Meyer-Overton rule. These results suggest that VA potencies are related to the VDW interactions between the VA ligand and protein target. It is likely that VA bind to sites with a high degree of solvent exclusion and aliphatic character because aliphatic residues provide favorable VDW contacts and weak hydrogen bond donors. Water molecules occupying these sites maintain pocket integrity, associate with the VA ligand, and diminish the unfavorable solvation enthalpy of the VA. Water molecules displaced into the bulk by the VA ligand may provide an additional favorable enthalpic contribution to VA binding. Anesthesia is a component of many health related procedures, the outcomes of which could be improved with a better understanding of the molecular targets and mechanisms of anesthetic action.

MNDO parameters for the prediction of 19F NMR chemical shifts in biologically relevant compounds

The semiempirical MNDO methodology for qualitative description NMR chemical shifts has now been extended with the addition of NMR-specific parameters for the fluorine atom. This approach can be employed using semiempirical (AM1/PM3) geometries with good accuracy and can be executed at a fraction of the cost of ab initio and DFT methods, providing an attractive option for the computational studies of (19)F NMR for much larger systems. The data set used in the parametrization is large and diverse and specifically geared toward biologically relevant compounds. The new parameters are applicable to fluorine atoms involved in carbon-fluorine bonds. These parameters yield results comparable to NMR calculations performed at the DFT (B3LYP) level using the 6-31++G(d,p) basis set. The average R (2) and rms error for this data set is 0.94 and 13.85 ppm, respectively, compared to 0.96 and 10.45 ppm when DFT methods are used.

Prediction of volatile anesthetic binding sites in proteins

Computational methods designed to predict and visualize ligand protein binding interactions were used to characterize volatile anesthetic (VA) binding sites and unoccupied pockets within the known structures of VAs bound to serum albumin, luciferase, and apoferritin. We found that both the number of protein atoms and methyl hydrogen, which are within approximately 8 A of a potential ligand binding site, are significantly greater in protein pockets where VAs bind. This computational approach was applied to structures of calmodulin (CaM), which have not been determined in complex with a VA. It predicted that VAs bind to [Ca(2+)](4)-CaM, but not to apo-CaM, which we confirmed with isothermal titration calorimetry. The VA binding sites predicted for the structures of [Ca(2+)](4)-CaM are located in hydrophobic pockets that form when the Ca(2+) binding sites in CaM are saturated. The binding of VAs to these hydrophobic pockets is supported by evidence that halothane predominantly makes contact with aliphatic resonances in [Ca(2+)](4)-CaM (nuclear Overhauser effect) and increases the Ca(2+) affinity of CaM (fluorescence spectroscopy). Our computational analysis and experiments indicate that binding of VA to proteins is consistent with the hydrophobic effect and the Meyer-Overton rule.

Structural studies of Bcl-xL/ligand complexes using 19F NMR

Fluorine atoms are often incorporated into drug molecules as part of the lead optimization process in order to improve affinity or modify undesirable metabolic and pharmacokinetic profiles. From an NMR perspective, the abundance of fluorinated drug leads provides an exploitable niche for structural studies using 19F NMR in the drug discovery process. As 19F has no interfering background signal from biological sources, 19F NMR studies of fluorinated drugs bound to their protein receptors can yield easily interpretable and unambiguous structural constraints. 19F can also be selectively incorporated into proteins to obtain additional constraints for structural studies. Despite these advantages, 19F NMR has rarely been exploited for structural studies due to its broad lines in macromolecules and their ligand complexes, leading to weak signals in 1H/19F heteronuclear NOE experiments. Here we demonstrate several different experimental strategies that use 19F NMR to obtain ligand-protein structural constraints for ligands bound to the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-xL, a drug target for anti-cancer therapy. These examples indicate the applicability of these methods to typical structural problems encountered in the drug development process.