Human serum albumin

About: Human serum albumin is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 9402 publications have been published within this topic receiving 269029 citations. The topic is also known as: serum albumin & ALB.

Fluorimetric analysis of the binding of warfarin to human serum albumin. Equilibrium and kinetic study.

Abstract: Binding of warfarin to human serum albumin results in a red shift of the UV absorption maximum, suggesting that the binding site is a hydrophobic area of the protein. The enhancement of the fluorescence of warfarin upon binding to human serum albumin was used to study the binding equilibrium and the kinetics of this drug-protein interaction. From equilibrium fluorescence measurements, contributions from free and bound warfarin could be evaluated. From the resulting Scatchard plots, equilibrium constants ranging from 4.2 X 10(5) to 3.5 X 10(5) M-1 for temperatures from 8 degrees to 37 degrees were calculated. The reaction is slightly exothermic (delta H = -1.2 kcal m mole-1) and strongly entropy-driven (delta S = +21 cal . mole-1 . K-1). The reaction rate constants of the warfarin-albumin interaction were determined by the stopped-flow technique. The association rate constant varies from 2.2 X 10(5) to 7.7 X 10(5) M-1 sec-1 from 10 degrees to 32 degrees. The corresponding activation enthalpy is 9.0 kcal . mole-1. These values are not consistent with a diffusion-controlled reaction. The dissociation of the complex was studied by making use of the direct competition between warfarin and phenylbutazone for the same binding site. The dissociation rate constant varies from 2.5 to 10.8 sec-1 in the same temperature range. Activation parameters obtained in the kinetic experiments correspond very well with the thermodynamic parameters calculated from the equilibrium study, validating the fluorescence approach to the equilibrium studies.

Serum albumin leads to false-positive results in the XTT and the MTT assay

Abstract: Tetrazolium salts like 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) or sodium 2,3-bis-(2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium-5-carboxanilide (XTT) that form formazans after reduction are widely used to investigate cell viability. Besides cellular enzymes, some constituents of cell media and other substances reduce tetrazolium salts, thereby interfering with these assays. We describe here that different preparations of serum albumin from bovine or human origin can lead to a concentration-dependent increase in the signals of the XTT assay; therefore leading to an overestimation of cell numbers and to an underestimation of potential cytotoxic effects of compounds to be tested. The same effect was seen in the MTT assay with human serum albumin (HSA). We demonstrate that this reductive activity cannot be inactivated by proteolytic digestion, but that it is due to the free cysteine residue in albumin, and is also observed when cysteine or glutathione (GSH) are used. Binding of N-ethylmaleimide (NEM) to the free cysteine residue leads to a decrease of the albumin interference in the XTT assay.

Investigating the interaction of juglone (5-hydroxy-1, 4-naphthoquinone) with serum albumins using spectroscopic and in silico methods

Abstract: The interaction between juglone at the concentration range of 10–110 µM and bovine serum albumin (BSA) or human serum albumin (HSA) at the constant concentration of 11 µM was investigated by fluorescence and UV absorption spectroscopy under physiological-like condition. Performing the experiments at different temperatures showed that the fluorescence intensity of BSA/HSA was decreased in the presence of juglone by a static quenching mechanism due to the formation of the juglone–protein complex. The binding constant for the interaction was in the order of 103 M−1, and the number of binding sites for juglone on serum albumins was determined to be equal to one. The thermodynamic parameters including enthalpy (ΔH), entropy (ΔS) and Gibb’s free energy (ΔG) changes were obtained by using the van’t Hoff equation. These results indicated that van der Waals force and hydrogen bonding were the main intermolecular forces stabilizing the complex in a spontaneous association reaction. Moreover, the interaction of BSA/HSA with juglone was verified by UV absorption spectra and molecular docking. The results of synchronous fluorescence, UV–visible and CD spectra demonstrated that the binding of juglone with BSA/HSA induces minimum conformational changes in the structure of albumins. The increased binding affinity of juglone to albumin observed in the presence of site markers (digoxin and ibuprofen) excludes IIA and IIIA sites as the binding site of juglone. This is partially in agreement with the results of molecular docking studies which suggests sub-domain IA of albumin as the binding site.