Structural studies by proton magnetic relaxation of stereochemical probes. II. Allosteric effects in human methaemoglobin

Temperature-dependent conformation change in spin-labeled hemoglobin

Hemoglobin was spin labeled at beta-93(F9)-cysteine with N-oxyl-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinylmaleimide. The inward shift of the high-field hyperfine line (delta Hx) position in the ESR spectra of the spin label was measured as a function of temperature. One can except that an abrupt change in the microenvironment around the tightly bound spin label will be reflected in the function delta Hx(T) as a discontinuity (break point). This was shown for aquo-, azido-, nitro- and oxyhemoglobin derivatives. The presented results suggest that the microenvironment around the tightly bound spin label in those methemoglobin derivatives that exhibit the mixed-spin state of the heme iron is prone to an abrupt change above a certain ligand-specific temperature. The change in microenvironment of the spin label is probably due to a temperature-dependent change in the teritary structure of the protein.

A proton magnetic relaxation study of ferric myoglobin and haemoglobin in water/ethanediol solutions

Structural alterations of the haem vicinity of the high-spin derivatives of bovine ferric myoglobin (metmyoglobin) and human haemoglobin and the changes of the interaction with inositol hexaphosphate induced by ethanediol were monitored by solvent-proton magnetic relaxation. On addition of ethanediol up to 60% the fluoromet derivatives exhibit a gradual increase in the accessibility of the haem for the molecules from the solvent. In aquomethaemoglobin solutions with more than 25% ethanediol there is no unique explanation of proton magnetic relaxation. Ethanediol enhances the binding of inositol hexaphosphate to methaemoglobin, but the structural consequences of this binding on the haem-pockets seem to be diminished. The mechanisms of the observed structural and functional alterations of myoglobin as well as haemoglobin tetramer are discussed here.