Circular dichroism of bilirubin-amine association complexes: insights into bilirubin-albumin binding

Fluorescence excitation properties of bilirubin in solution and in serum

The bichromophore nature of bilirubin explains the presence of at least two partially overlaying bands in both absorption and fluorescence emission spectra, and accounts for interchromophore exciton transfer events responsible for the emission sensitivity to the molecular environment and excitation wavelength. These concepts were likely responsible for the previously reported good yield of the unexpected remarkable bilirubin fluorescence emission under excitation at 366 nm, at which bilirubin absorption is very low. In this connection, aim of this work is to further investigate bilirubin spectral excitation properties and their diagnostic potential, until now poorly considered. Fluorescence excitation spectra of pure bilirubin in solution with solubilizing agents observed at 520 and 570 nm showed a wide region in the 430-510 nm range, similar to the absorption profile. In addition, an excitation band centered at about 400 nm was detected. Comparable excitation features were detected in rat serum. The 430-510 nm excitation region was well separated from a main band at shorter wavelength, ascribable to other endogenous fluorophores, with a shoulder at about 400 nm which was also easily discriminated by spectral fitting analysis. The bands ascribable to bilirubin showed changes of their relative contribution to the overall spectral region after liver ischemia/reperfusion, comparable to bilirubin biochemical data. Excitation spectra proved to discriminate the fluorescence of serum bilirubin at levels much lower than emission spectra, opening promising perspectives to improve the real time fluorescence analysis of crude serum in the absence of any exogenous labelling agent, and advance the diagnostic application of optical-biopsy in experimental hepatology and biomedicine.

Controversies in bilirubin biochemistry and their clinical relevance

Despite a century of research, several clinically relevant areas of bilirubin biochemistry remain controversial, poorly understood, or unrecognized. These include: (i) The structure and molecularity of bilirubin under physiological environments such as membranes, brain tissue and when bound to proteins. Related to this is the large number of structurally different bilirubin species that may occur in blood under pathological conditions and their potential effects on measurements of bilirubin and free bilirubin. (ii) The mechanism of phototherapy, the neurotoxicity of the photoisomers produced and their influence on measurements of bilirubin and free bilirubin. (iii) The role of membrane transporters in the passage of unconjugated bilirubin across the placenta, intestine, vascular epithelium, blood-brain barrier, and into the liver. (iv) Biochemical mechanisms of bilirubin toxicity, pharmacologic prevention of kernicterus, the contribution of bilirubin to antioxidant defenses, and the practical value of free bilirubin measurements for identifying infants at most risk of kernicterus.

Novel Benzoic Acid Congeners of Bilirubin

Three regioisomeric bilirubins and biliverdins with propionic acids replaced by benzoic acids were synthesized from the corresponding xanthobilirubic acids by oxidative coupling. The rubins were found to exhibit widely varying polarity, spectroscopic properties, and stereochemistry. The isomer with ortho benzoic acids (1o) was much less polar than either the meta (1m) or para (1p) because 1o (but not 1m and 1p) can adopt a folded conformation with both carboxylic acids intramolecularly hydrogen bonded to the opposing dipyrrinones. The consequences of such conformational differentiation are found in the varying 1H NMR, UV-vis, and circular dichroism spectral properties.

A dynamic model for bilirubin binding to human serum albumin

Site-directed mutagenesis of human serum albumin was used to study the role of various amino acid residues in bilirubin binding. A comparison of thermodynamic, proteolytic, and x-ray crystallographic data from previous studies allowed a small number of amino acid residues in subdomain 2A to be selected as targets for substitution. The following recombinant human serum albumin species were synthesized in the yeast species Pichia pastoris: K195M, K199M, F211V, W214L, R218M, R222M, H242V, R257M, and wild type human serum albumin. The affinity of bilirubin was measured by two independent methods and found to be similar for all human serum albumin species. Examination of the absorption and circular dichroism spectra of bilirubin bound to its high affinity site revealed dramatic differences between the conformations of bilirubin bound to the above human serum albumin species. The absorption and circular dichroism spectra of bilirubin bound to the above human serum albumin species in aqueous solutions saturated with chloroform were also examined. The effect of certain amino acid substitutions on the conformation of bound bilirubin was altered by the addition of chloroform. In total, the present study suggests a dynamic, unusually flexible high affinity binding site for bilirubin on human serum albumin.

Altering the Acidity and Solution Properties of Bilirubin. Methoxy and Methylthio Substituents

Substitution of electron-withdrawing groups at the alpha-position of an aliphatic carboxylic acid can be expected to increase the acidity of the acid. Methoxy and methylthio groups are especially effective; they increase the acidity of acetic acid by approximately 1.1 pK(a) units. Bilirubin, the water-insoluble pigment of jaundice, has two propionic acids, and an alpha-methoxy or alpha-methylthio substituent in each propionic acid can be expected to lower the pK(a) similarly and thus alter its solubility properties. (A previously synthesized analogue, alpha,alpha'-difluororubin (4), is soluble in water.) Two new analogues of bilirubin, alpha,alpha'-dimethoxyrubin (1) and alpha,alpha'-bis(methylthio)rubin (2), have been synthesized, separated into diastereomers, and analyzed. The isomers are shown by NMR to adopt intramolecularly hydrogen-bonded ridge-tile-shaped conformations. Like bilirubin, both 1 and 2 are insoluble in water. Unlike bilirubin, 1 is soluble in dilute aqueous bicarbonate, but 2 is insoluble, which would not be predicted from the expectation that 1 and 2 have the same pK(a). The data hint at a much larger steric size of SCH(3) relative to OCH(3).

The conformation of xanthene dyes in the myosin sulfhydryl one binding site. Part I. Methods and model systems

Derivatives of the fluorescent probes fluorescein and rhodamine specifically and covalently modify the highly reactive thiol (SH1) of myosin subfragment 1 (S1). Both probes develop circular dichroism (CD) upon modification of SH1 at the visible absorption band of the chromophore. A model system of chiral complexing agents (aromatic chiral amines) interacting with fluorescein in solvent develops a CD signal that mimics that produced by S1. The model system suggests that a specific interaction of the probe with an aromatic chiral residue in the SH1 binding pocket induces the CD signal. Several other spectroscopic signals, including absorption and fluorescence intensity and anisotropy, characterize the fluorescein or rhodamine binding to SH1. A coupled dipole method is adapted to interpret these spectroscopic signals in terms of the probe-S1 complex conformation. The computation of the orientation of the principal hydrodynamic frame (PHF) of S1 from its crystallographic alpha-carbon backbone structure permits the known orientation of the probe in the PHF of S1 to further constrain the conformation of the probe-S1 complex. The coupled dipole interpretation of spectroscopic data combined with constraints relating the probe dipole orientation to the PHF of S1 determines the conformation of the probe-S1 complex. The methods developed here are applied to the spectroscopic signals from fluorescein or rhodamine in the SH1 binding site of S1 to obtain an atomic resolution model of the probe-S1 conformation [Ajtai and Burghardt, Biochemistry, 34 (1995) 15943-15952].

Chemical modification of buried lysine residues of bovine serum albumin and its influence on protein conformation and bilirubin binding

Using a double modification technique about 20% of the lysine residues of bovine serum albumin (BSA) which are not easily accessible in the native protein have been modified. The technique involved approximately 80% modification of lysine residues of BSA with citraconic anhydride followed by chemical modification of the remaining lysine residues with acetic anhydride, succinic anhydride, potassium cyanate, or O-methylisourea. Finally, these preparations were decitraconylated under mild acidic conditions to yield acetylated, succinylated, carbomylated or guanidinated BSA. All of these preparations were found to be homogeneous with respect to charge and size. The spectral, hydrodynamic and bilirubin binding properties of these preparations are described. In contrast to most of the highly modified proteins these preparations with the exception of succinylated BSA are very similar to native BSA in their spectral and hydrodynamic properties. However, the equilibrium association constant (Ka) with bilirubin measured by fluorescence quenching was decreased by about 100-fold in acetylated, carbamylated and succinylated BSA, but only 3-fold in guanidinated BSA. Since conformationally acetylated and carbamylated BSAs are identical to guanidinated BSA we conclude that the decrease in Ka in these preparations is solely due to loss of positive charge on 'critical' lysine residues. The results support a binding model for BSA in which bilirubin binding site is buried and the protein undergoes a series of relaxational changes in conformation upon interaction with bilirubin.

New trends in photobiology (invited review). Recent advances in bilirubin photophysics

The high photosensibility of bilirubin represents the main reason why neonatal jaundice is treated with light. The relaxation processes of excited bilirubin appear to be governed by complex mechanisms which are not fully known. At room temperature, radiationless channels, such as Z----E configurational photoisomerizations and internal conversions, contribute mostly to the deactivation of singlet excited bilirubin. Exciton coupling processes between the two pyrromethenone chromophores constituting the molecule may play a crucial role in bilirubin photophysics.