Iron binding to apoferritin: a fluorescence spectroscopy study

Ferritin nanocomposites for the selective delivery of photosensitizing ruthenium-polypyridyl compounds to cancer cells

Human ferritin platforms containing Ru(ii)-polypyridyl-based photosensitizers effectively target cancer cells and provide cytotoxic effects upon light-activation.

Silver-gold-apoferritin nanozyme for suppressing oxidative stress during cryopreservation

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) cause oxidative stress, which involves in the pathogenesis of many serious diseases. Apoferittin containing gold-silver nanoparticles (Au-Ag-AFT) was designed and evaluated as a nanozyme for scavenging the ROS. The nanozyme consisting of silver-gold nanohybrid in apoferittin cage represents superoxide dismutase, catalase and peroxidase mimetic activities. The Au-Ag-AFT nanozyme was characterized by spectroscopy, FESEM, TEM and dynamic light scattering. The inhibition process for pyrogallol autoxidation was used for assaying the superoxide dismutase mimetic activity and measuring the kinetic parameters of Au-Ag-AFT nanozyme. Additionally, Aebi method and standard protocol was used for evaluating the catalase and peroxidase mimetic activity. The k_cat values for superoxide dismutase, catalase and peroxidase mimetics activity were 1.4 × 10⁶, 0.1 and 9 × 10³ s^-1 respectively. These values indicated that Au-Ag-AFT nanozyme could act as a suitable ROS scavenger. Additionally, Au-Ag-AFT nanozyme was examined as a protective agent for human sperm against oxidative stress induced during the cryopreservation process. Presence of the nanozyme in the sperm media significantly increased the motility and viability of the cells and also decreased the ROS, apoptosis and necrosis (P < 0.05) compare to the control group.

Redox reactivity of animal apoferritins and apoheteropolymers assembled from recombinant heavy and light human chain ferritins

The redox reactivities of air-oxidized apo horse spleen ferritin (HoSF) and apo rat liver ferritin (RaF) were examined by microcoulometry and reductive optical titrations. Microcoulometry on several independent lots of commercial HoSF revealed two distinct types of redox activity: one requiring 3-4 electrons and one requiring 6-7 electrons for full reduction of the protein shell. ApoRaF required 8-9 electrons to fully reduce the oxidized form. Reductive optical titrations confirmed the microcoulometric reduction stoichiometry and, in addition, showed that the spectra of both oxidized and reduced apoHoSF were distinct and possessed absorbances tailing into the visible region. The redox reactivity of both apoRaF and apoHoSF correlated with their H-subunit composition. Identical microcoulometric and optical experiments were conducted with recombinant apo human liver heavy (rHuHF) and light (rHuLF) ferritins, but neither was redox-active. These results suggest that the redox reactivity of native ferritins is due to their heteropolymeric nature. This was confirmed by mixing various proportions of rHuHF and rHuLF, dissociating the 24-mers into individual subunits with guanidine hydrochloride at pH 3.5, and renaturing to form heteropolymeric 24-mers. Microcoulometric measurements of these apoheteropolymers reassembled in vitro showed that they were redox-active like their native apoheteropolymer counterparts. The redox activity of these apoheteropolymers increased with H-subunit composition, reached a maximum near 12 H- and 12 L-subunits, and then declined to zero with increasing L-subunit composition. The decline in redox reactivity at high L-subunit concentrations indicates that both H- and L-subunits are involved in forming the observed redox centers. Apoheteropolymers formed from rHuLF and W93F (an H-chain mutant) were redox-inactive, suggesting that the conserved tryptophan is necessary for redox center formation.

Formation and movement of Fe(III) in horse spleen, H- and L-recombinant ferritins. A fluorescence study

Iron oxidation and incorporation into apoferritins of different subunit composition, namely the recombinant H and L homopolymers and the natural horse spleen heteropolymer (10-15% H), have been followed by steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence. After aerobic addition of 100 Fe(II) atoms/polymer, markedly different kinetic profiles are observed. In the rL-homopolymer a slow monotonic fluorescence quenching is observed which reflects binding, slow oxidation at the threefold apoferritin channels, and diffusion into the protein cavity. In the rH-homopolymer a fast fluorescence quenching is followed by a partial, slow recovery. The two processes have been attributed to Fe(II) binding and oxidation at the ferroxidase centers and to Fe(III) released into the cavity, respectively. The fluorescence kinetics of horse spleen apoferritin is dominated by the H chain contribution and resembles that of the H homopolymer. It brings out clearly that the rate of the overall process is limited by the rate at which Fe(III) leaves the ferroxidase centers of the H chains where binding of incoming Fe(II) and its oxidation take place. The data obtained upon stepwise addition of iron and the results of optical absorption measurements confirm this picture. The correspondence between steady-state and time-resolved data is remarkably good; this is manifest when the latter are used to calculate the change in fluorescence intensity as apparent in the steady-state measurements.

Evidence that H-enriched human placental ferritin is structurally similar to L-enriched ferritins of other tissues

Ferritin was purified from normal full-term placenta, and the native structure and subunit composition were characterized. Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of the placental ferritin subunits suggested the presence of three subunit types. Using acid urea gel electrophoresis and amino acid analysis, these subunits were tentatively identified as two H-type and one L-type. The relative proportions of the subunit types were approx. 23% H-1, 33% H-2 and 44% L. The native structure of placental ferritin as judged by circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopy was quite similar to that of ferritin isolated from horse spleen, a source that is composed predominantly of L subunits. These results are consistent with a ferritin tetracosameric structure whose H and L subunits fit into 24 equivalent sites interchangeably because the secondary and tertiary structures of the two subunit types are very similar.