Ben Dror Shimshon, Bronshtein Irena, Weitman Hana, Smith Kevin M, O'Neal William G, Jacobi Peter A, Ehrenberg Benjamin
Department of Physics, Nano Medicine Research Center, Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, Bar Ilan University, 52900, Ramat Gan, Israel.
Eur Biophys J. 2009 Sep;38(7):847-55. doi: 10.1007/s00249-009-0444-y. Epub 2009 Mar 28.
In previous studies, we demonstrated that elongation of side chains of several sensitizers endowed them with higher affinity for artificial and natural membranes and caused their deeper localization in membranes. In the present study, we employed eight hematoporphyrin and protoporphyrin analogs and four groups containing three chlorin analogs each, all synthesized with variable numbers of methylenes in their alkyl carboxylic chains. We show that these tetrapyrroles' affinity for bovine serum albumin (BSA) and their localization in the binding site are also modulated by chain lengths. The binding constants of the hematoporphyrins and protoporphyrins to BSA increased as the number of methylenes was increased. The binding of the chlorins depended on the substitution at the meso position opposite to the chains. The quenching of the sensitizers' florescence by external iodide ions decreased as the side chains became longer, indicating to deeper insertion of the molecules into the BSA binding pocket. To corroborate this conclusion, we studied the efficiency of photodamage caused to tryptophan in BSA upon illumination of the bound sensitizers. The efficiency was found to depend on the side-chain lengths of the photosensitizer. We conclude that the protein site that hosts these sensitizers accommodates different analogs at positions that differ slightly from each other. These differences are manifested in the ease of access of iodide from the external aqueous phase, and in the proximity of the photosensitizers to the tryptophan. In the course of this study, we developed the kinetic equations that have to be employed when the sensitizer itself is being destroyed.
在先前的研究中,我们证明了几种敏化剂侧链的延长赋予了它们对人工膜和天然膜更高的亲和力,并使它们在膜中定位更深。在本研究中,我们使用了八种血卟啉和原卟啉类似物以及四组,每组包含三种二氢卟吩类似物,它们均在其烷基羧酸链中合成了不同数量的亚甲基。我们表明,这些四吡咯对牛血清白蛋白(BSA)的亲和力及其在结合位点的定位也受链长调节。血卟啉和原卟啉与BSA的结合常数随着亚甲基数量的增加而增加。二氢卟吩的结合取决于与链相对的中位取代。随着侧链变长,外部碘离子对敏化剂荧光的猝灭作用减弱,这表明分子更深地插入到BSA结合口袋中。为了证实这一结论,我们研究了在照射结合的敏化剂时对BSA中色氨酸造成的光损伤效率。发现该效率取决于光敏剂的侧链长度。我们得出结论,容纳这些敏化剂的蛋白质位点在彼此略有不同的位置容纳不同的类似物。这些差异体现在碘离子从外部水相进入的难易程度以及光敏剂与色氨酸的接近程度上。在这项研究过程中,我们推导了在敏化剂自身被破坏时必须使用的动力学方程。