Influence of amino acid relative position on the oxidative modification of histidine and glycine peptides

Assessing the Indirect Photochemical Transformation of Dissolved Combined Amino Acids through the Use of Systematically Designed Histidine-Containing Oligopeptides

Photooxidation is an important abiotic transformation pathway for amino acids (AAs) in sunlit waters. Although dissolved free AAs are well studied, the photooxidation of dissolved combined AAs (DCAAs) remains poorly investigated. This study is a systematic investigation of the effect of neighboring photostable AA residues (i.e., aliphatic, cationic, anionic, or aromatic residues) on the environmental indirect photochemical transformation of histidine (His) in His-containing oligopeptides. The pKa values of His residues in the studied oligopeptides were found to be between 4.3 and 8.1. Accordingly, the phototransformation rate constants of the His-containing oligopeptides were highly pH-dependent in an environmentally relevant pH range with higher reactivity for neutral His than for the protonated species. The photostable AA residues significantly modulated the photoreactivity of oligopeptides either through altering the accessibility of His to photochemically produced oxidants or through shifting the pKa values of His residues. In addition, the influence of neighboring photostable AA residues on the sorption-enhanced phototransformation of oligopeptides in solutions containing chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) was assessed. The constituent photostable AA residues promoted sorption of His-containing oligopeptides to CDOM macromolecules through electrostatic attraction, hydrophobic effects, and/or low-barrier hydrogen bonds, and subsequently increased the apparent phototransformation rate constants by up to 2 orders of magnitude.

Exploring the space of histidine containing dipeptides in search of novel efficient RCS sequestering agents

The study reports a set of forty proteinogenic histidine-containing dipeptides as potential carbonyl quenchers. The peptides were chosen to cover as exhaustively as possible the accessible chemical space, and their quenching activities toward 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE) and pyridoxal were evaluated by HPLC analyses. The peptides were capped at the C-terminus as methyl esters or amides to favor their resistance to proteolysis and diastereoisomeric pairs were considered to reveal the influence of configuration on quenching. On average, the examined dipeptides are less active than the parent compound carnosine (βAla + His) thus emphasizing the unfavorable effect of the shortening of the βAla residue as confirmed by the control dipeptide Gly-His. Nevertheless, some peptides show promising activities toward HNE combined with a remarkable selectivity. The results emphasize the beneficial role of aromatic and positively charged residues, while negatively charged and H-bonding side chains show a detrimental effect on quenching. As a trend, ester derivatives are slightly more active than amides while heterochiral peptides are more active than their homochiral diastereoisomer. Overall, the results reveal that quenching activity strongly depends on conformational effects and vicinal residues (as evidenced by the reported QSAR analysis), offering insightful clues for the design of improved carbonyl quenchers and to rationalize the specific reactivity of histidine residues within proteins.

Transforming dietary peptides in promising lead compounds: the case of bioavailable carnosine analogs

The ability of carnosine to prevent advanced glycoxidation end products (AGEs) and advanced lipoxidation end products (ALEs) formation, on the one hand, and the convincing evidence that these compounds act as pathogenetic factors, on the other hand, strongly support carnosine as a promising therapeutic agent for oxidative-based diseases. The mechanism/s by which carnosine inhibits AGEs and ALEs is still under investigation but an emerging hypothesis is that carnosine acts by deactivating the AGEs and ALEs precursors and in particular the reactive carbonyl species (RCS) generated by both lipid and sugar oxidation. The ability of carnosine to inhibit AGEs and ALEs formation and the corresponding biological effects has been demonstrated in several in vitro studies and in some animal models. However, such effects are in line of principle, limited in humans, due to the effect of serum carnosinase (absent in rodents), which catalyzes the carnosine hydrolysis to its constitutive amino acids. Such a limitation has prompted a great interest in the design of carnosine derivatives, which maintaining (or improving) the reactivity with RCS, are more resistant to carnosinase. The present paper intends to critically review the most recent studies oriented to obtaining carnosine derivatives, optimized in terms of reactivity with RCS, selectivity (no reaction with physiological aldehydes) and the pharmacokinetic profile (mainly through an enhanced resistance to carnosinase hydrolysis). The review also includes a brief description of AGEs and ALEs as drug targets and the evidence so far reported regarding the ability of carnosine as inhibitor of AGEs and ALEs formation and the proposed reaction mechanisms.

Identification of free radicals in oxidized and glycoxidized phosphatidylethanolamines by spin trapping combined with tandem mass spectrometry

RATIONALE

Nonenzymatic glycation of phosphatidylethanolamines (PEs) seems to a have a role in angiogenesis and atherosclerosis. Glycated PEs are more easily oxidized, enhancing oxidative stress. This study aims to evaluate the influence of glycation on the formation of intermediate radical species during oxidation of glycated PEs.

METHODS

In the present study, the radical intermediaries formed during the oxidation of palmitoyl-lineoyl phosphatidylethanolamine (PLPE) and glycated PLPE (gPLPE) were trapped using a spin trap (DMPO) and the radical adducts were analyzed by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS). Mass spectra were acquired using a electrospray Q-TOF 2 mass spectrometer.

RESULTS

Several spin adducts of PLPE and gPLPE were identified, corresponding to carbon- and oxygen-centered radicals. Interpretation of the MS/MS spectra showed the existence of different sites where radical formation occurred, at the sn-2 acyl chain, ethanolamine moiety (particularly in C-1) and, in the case of glycated derivatives, also in the glucose moiety (particularly in C-3, C-4 and C-5).

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggested the presence of more sites susceptible to oxidation in glycated PLPE, which may be responsible for the increase in the oxidative reaction rate occurring in glycated compounds.

Quantification of hydroxyl radical-derived oxidation products in peptides containing glycine, alanine, valine, and proline

Proteins are a major target for oxidation due to their abundance and high reactivity. Despite extensive investigation over many years, only limited quantitative data exist on the contributions of different pathways to the oxidation of peptides and proteins. This study was designed to obtain quantitative data on the nature and yields of oxidation products (alcohols, carbonyls, hydroperoxides, fragment species) formed by a prototypic oxidant system (HO(•)/O(2)) on small peptides of limited, but known, amino acid composition. Peptides composed of Gly, Ala, Val, and Pro were examined with particular emphasis on the peptide Val-Gly-Val-Ala-Pro-Gly, a repeat motif in elastin with chemotactic activity and metalloproteinase regulation properties. The data obtained indicate that hydroperoxide formation occurs nonrandomly (Pro > Val > Ala > Gly) with this inversely related to carbonyl yields (both peptide-bound and released). Multiple alcohols are generated at both side-chain and backbone sites. Backbone fragmentation has been characterized at multiple positions, with sites adjacent to Pro residues being of major importance. Summation of the product concentrations provides clear evidence for the occurrence of chain reactions in peptides exposed to HO(•)/O(2), with the overall product yields exceeding that of the initial HO(•) generated.