Interactions of the carboxyl group of oleic acid with bovine serum albumin: a 13C NMR study.

The interactions of the carboxyl group of oleic acid with bovine serum albumin (BSA) were studied by 13C NMR spectroscopy at 50.3 MHz using 90% isotopically substituted [1-13C]oleic acid. 13C NMR spectra were obtained as a function of the mole ratio of oleic acid to BSA (from 0.5-10.0) and, for selected mole ratios, as a function of pH (between pH 3.0 and 10.6) and temperature (between 15 and 55 degrees C and thermally denatured at 95 degrees C). Except for spectra of highly acidic (pH less than or equal to 3.9) and denatured samples, spectra of oleic acid/BSA complexes showed multiple narrow resonances from the oleic acid carboxyl carbon in a region (179-184 ppm) downfield from protein carbonyl and carboxyl carbon resonances. At low oleic acid/BSA ratios (0.5 and 1.0), at least two oleic acid carboxyl carbon peaks were observed; at high ratios (greater than or equal to 3.0), at least four peaks were present. The intensities of individual peaks, but not their chemical shifts, varied with the oleic acid/BSA ratio. The chemical shift of individual oleic acid peaks was invariant between pH 6.0 and 10.6; below pH 6.0, one of the oleic acid resonances exhibited an NMR titration curve with an apparent pKa of approximately 4. Thus, BSA binding sites for oleic acid are heterogeneous as monitored by the magnetic microenvironment of the oleic acid carboxyl carbon. The number of different oleic acid environments and the relative population of oleic acid molecules in these environments is dependent on the mole ratio of oleic acid/BSA. Our results suggested that the anionic form of oleic acid is bound to BSA at physiological pH and that the multiplicity of NMR peaks for [1-13C]oleic acid resulted from, at least in part, different electrostatic and hydrogen bonding interactions between the oleic acid carboxyl group and specific amino acid residues of BSA.