Archives of Biological Sciences (Jan 2011)
Investigation of the effects of temperature and ions on the interaction between ECG and BSA by the fluorescence quenching method
Abstract
The effects of temperature and common ions on binding (-)-epicatechin gallate (ECG) to bovine serum albumin (BSA) are investigated. The binding constants (Ka) between ECG and BSA are 1.20 Ч 106 (17°C), 1.38 Ч 106 (27°C), and 5.69 x 106 L mol-1 (37°C), and the number of binding sites (n) were 1.14, 1.15, and 1.26, respectively. These results showed that the increasing temperature improves the stability of the ECG-BSA system, which results in a higher binding constant and the number of binding sites of the ECG-BSA system. The presence of Co2+ and Zn2+ ions decreased the binding constants (Ka) and the number of binding sites (n) of ECG-BSA complex. However, the presence of Cu2+ and Ni2+ increased the affinity of ECG for BSA largely. The positive ΔH and positive ΔS indicated that hydrophobic forces might play a major role in the binding between ECG and BSA.
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