Effect of UVC radiation on conformational restructuring of human serum albumin

Probing silver nanoparticle mediated mitigation of UV-photolysis in proteins by electrical impedance analysis

The dynamic equilibrium between an array of molecular forces precisely organizes the native structure of the protein. The charge on the protein, an interconnected network continuum, is crucial in determining its secondary and tertiary structure. The photolysis of the protein by ultraviolet (UV) light occurs by generating reactive oxygen intermediates from the interaction of matter and light. Herein, we have investigated the photolysis of the protein and its prevention by the pre-treatment with silver nanoparticle (AgNP) using non-faradaic electrical impedance spectroscopy (Nf-EIS). Five microliters of protein solution are used to measure its impedimetric parameters via Nf-EIS. The photoionization process sparks off an altered surface charge continuum of the protein molecules in tandem with the genesis of solvated electrons and protons, spurring an upward shift in conductivity. The AgNP pre-treatment has reduced the damaging effects of the UV radiation, which is reflected as lesser conductivity in contrast to the photolyzed protein solution. Raman Spectroscopy and circular dichroism tests affirm the trend of Nf-EIS results. These results show that Nf-EIS can evaluate protein structure analysis utilized in quality assurance and toxicity analysis for biologics.

Modification and oxidative degradation of β-lactoglobulin by UVB irradiation

Ultraviolet (UV) B irradiation induces protein modification, especially the conformational rearrangement of proteins, and is therefore promising as a non-thermal and non-chemical functionalization technique. Nevertheless, UVB irradiation introduces radicals and oxidizes side chains resulting in the loss of food quality. Thus, assessing the UVB irradiation-based functionalization of β-lactoglobulin (BLG) versus its oxidative degradation is of interest. UVB irradiation of up to 8 h was successfully applied to loosen the rigid folding of BLG and increase its flexibility. Thereby, the cysteine at position 121 and hydrophobic regions became surface-exposed as indicated by the increase in accessible thiol groups and increased surface hydrophobicity. Furthermore, we demonstrated the cleavage of the "outer" disulfide bond C⁶⁶-C¹⁶⁰ by LC-MS/MS after tryptic digestion of BLG. The 2-h-irradiated BLG showed adequate conformational rearrangement for protein functionalization while being minimally oxidized.

Effect of Low-Dose Line-Spectrum and Full-Spectrum UV on Major Humoral Components of Human Blood

Ultraviolet blood irradiation (UVBI) is an alternative approach to the treatment of infectious diseases of various pathogeneses. Recently, UVBI has attracted particular interest as a new immunomodulatory method. Experimental studies available in the literature demonstrate the absence of precise mechanisms of the effect of ultraviolet radiation (UV) on blood. Here, we investigated the effect of UV radiation of line-spectrum mercury lamp (doses up to 500 mJ/cm²) traditionally used in UVBI on the major humoral blood components: albumin, globulins and uric acid. Preliminary data on the effect of various doses of UV radiation of full-spectrum flash xenon lamp (doses up to 136 mJ/cm²), a new promising source for UVBI, on the major blood plasma protein, albumin, are presented. The research methodology included spectrofluorimetric analysis of the oxidative modification of proteins and analysis of the antioxidant activity of humoral blood components by chemiluminometry. The effect of UV radiation on albumin caused its oxidative modification and, accordingly, an impairment of the transport properties of the protein. At the same time, UV-modified albumin and γ-globulins acquired pronounced antioxidant properties compared to native samples. Uric acid mixed with albumin did not protect the protein against UV-induced oxidation. The flash full-spectrum UV qualitatively had the same effect on albumin as line-spectrum UV did, but an order of magnitude lower doses were required to achieve comparable effects. The suggested protocol can be used for selecting a safe individual dose for UV therapy.

Surface Characterisation of Human Serum Albumin Layers on Activated Ti6Al4V

Adpsortion of protein layers on biomaterials plays an important role in the interactions between implants and the bio-environment. In this context, human serum albumin (HSA) layers have been deposited on modified Ti6Al4V surfaces at different ultraviolet (UV-C) irradiation times to observe possible changes in the adsorbed protein layer. Protein adsorption was done from solutions at concentraions lower than the serum protein concentration, to follow the surface modifications at the beginning of the albumin adhesion process. For this purpose, the surface of the protein-coated samples has been characterized by time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), contact angle and zeta potential measurements. The results obtained show a reduction in the total surface tension and zeta potential of samples treated with UV-C light when coated with a protein layer. Furthermore, the UV-C light treatment applied to titanium alloy surfaces is able to modify the conformation, orientation and packing of the proteins arranged in the adsorbed layer. Low irradiation time generates an unstable surface with the lowest protein adsorption and the highest hydrophobic/hydrophilic protein ratio, indicating a possible denaturalization of the protein on these surfaces. However, surface changes are stabilized after 15 h or UV-C irradiation, favoring the protein adsorption through electrical interactions.

Protection of human γD-crystallin protein from ultraviolet C-induced aggregation by ortho-vanillin

Cataract is known as one of the leading causes of vision impairment worldwide. While the detailed mechanism of cataratogenesis remains unclear, cataract is believed to be correlated with the aggregation and/or misfolding of human ocular lens proteins called crystallins. A 173-residue structural protein human γD-crystallin is a major γ-crystallin protein in the human eye lens and associated with the development of juvenile and mature-onset cataracts. This work is aimed at investigating the effect of a small molecule, e.g., ortho-vanillin, on human γD-crystallin aggregation upon exposure to ultraviolet-C irradiation. According to the findings of right-angle light scattering, transmission electron microscopy, and gel electrophoresis, ortho-vanillin was demonstrated to dose-dependently suppress ultraviolet-C-triggered aggregation of human γD-crystallin. Results from the synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy, tryptophan fluorescence quenching, and molecular docking studies revealed the structural change of γD-crystallin induced by the interaction/binding between ortho-vanillin and protein. We believe the outcome from this work may contribute to the development of potential therapeutics for cataract.

Silver nanoclusters are probably better and cheaper protecting agents for protein from UVC radiation compared to gold nanoclusters

It has been shown experimentally that the albumin proteins can be significantly protected by silver nanoclusters (AgNCs) from the adverse effects of UVC radiation. The parameters have been compared with the effects of gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) under similar circumstances. The protection depends on the absorptive power of the metal cluster. Since serum albumin is found in blood and lysozyme in tears, saliva, sweat, and other body fluids, hence these are often vulnerable to attack by the exposure to UV radiation. It is also shown that, the AgNCs provide greater benefits over the application of AuNCs by being more biocompatible and cheap. Au being an expensive material, a cheaper protective option is always viable as the protective mechanism depends on the radiation absorption capability of the metal core. Moreover, it has also been shown that glucose helps in protecting the proteins attached to the AgNCs.

Gold Nanocluster Protection of Protein from UVC Radiation: A Model Study on Bovine Serum Albumin

Harmful UVC (200-280 nm) radiation is entirely screened by a combination of dioxygen and ozone in the stratosphere. However, because of environmental pollution, depletion of stratospheric ozone layer is increasing alarmingly, ensuing danger of penetration of the harmful UVC through the earth's atmosphere to reach the living world. Studies have shown that UVC radiation accelerates aging of albumin solutions along with other qualitative changes. Herein, we have used in situ grown and ex situ added gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) to minimize the damage in the protein structure caused by long-term UVC exposure. The effects were demonstrated in the absence and presence of lipid vesicles to mimic the biological environment. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) has been used as the model protein that contains ∼50-60% helicity. It is observed that UVC converts most of α-helix into β-sheet, leading to the aggregation of protein. The ingrown AuNCs could provide about 23-40% protection to the secondary structure, whereas the externally added AuNCs preserved almost 73-82%. To generalize this finding, we have also studied the effect of AuNC protection on the UVC-exposed lysozyme protein. The results show that the proposed method is indeed helpful for life.

Engineering Xeno-Free Microcarriers with Recombinant Vitronectin, Albumin and UV Irradiation for Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Bioprocessing

The development of platforms for the expansion and directed differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) in large quantities under xeno-free conditions is a key step toward the realization of envisioned stem cell-based therapies. Microcarrier bioreactors afford great surface-to-volume ratio, scalability and customization with typical densities of 10⁶-10⁷ cells/ml or higher. In this study, a simple and inexpensive method was established for generating microcarriers without animal-derived components. While coating polystyrene beads with vitronectin alone did not support the culture of hPSCs in stirred suspension, the inclusion of recombinant human serum albumin and UV irradiation led to enhanced seeding efficiency and retention while cells grew more than 20-fold per passage for multiple successive passages and without loss of cell pluripotency. Human PSCs expanded on microcarriers were coaxed to tri-lineage differentiation demonstrating that this system can be used for the self-renewal and specification of hPSCs to therapeutically relevant cell types. Such systems will be critical for the envisioned use of stem cells in regenerative medicine and drug discovery.

Effect of Moderate UVC Irradiation on Bovine Serum Albumin and Complex with Antimetabolite 5-Fluorouracil: Fluorescence Spectroscopic and Molecular Modelling Studies

The interaction of antimetabolite 5-fluorouracil (5FU) with bovine serum albumin (BSA) under UVC (253.7 nm) irradiation was investigated in the present study using UV-Vis spectroscopy, steady state/time resolved fluorescence spectroscopic techniques. The stability of protein was found to be very strong when BSA gets bind to 5FU and moreover it is compared with the free BSA under UVC irradiation. From the fluorescence spectroscopic study, the stability of the complex was found to acquire 2-fold stronger than free protein. From the molecular modelling studies, we came to know the hydrogen bonds between BSA and antimetabolite 5FU are strong, up to 70.4 J/m2 under UVC irradiation.

The modified action of triphenyllead chloride on UVB-induced effects in albumin and lipids

Previously we have shown a toxic effect of the organometallic compound triphenyllead (TPhPb) on cells. In the present study we evaluated the destructive effect of TPhPb on model systems--serum albumin and liposome membranes--alone and under UVB irradiation. UVB irradiation of bovine serum albumin results in protein S-S bond reduction, free SH- and CO- group formation and decrease in fluorescence intensity of tryptophans. Triphenyllead chloride alone and under UVB irradiation did not induce protein oxidation, measured as formation of carbonyl groups, in serum albumin; however, it decreased the content of SH- groups in both cases (alone and under UVB radiation) in a dose-dependent manner. It was found that triphenyllead chloride alone did not induce lipid peroxidation of liposomes but increased their fluidity. However, under UVB irradiation TPhPb dramatically enhances the pro-oxidant action of UVB in a manner dependent on concentration and intensity of radiation, and these effects were suppressed by Trolox. These results suggest that the toxicity of TPhPb under UVB irradiation is due to formation of radical forms of the compound and its disordered effects on the membrane structure.

Sol-gel derived ionic copper-doped microstructured optical fiber: a potential selective ultraviolet radiation dosimeter

We report the fabrication and characterization of a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) having a sol-gel core doped with ionic copper. Optical measurements demonstrate that the ionic copper is preserved in the silica glass all along the preparation steps up to fiber drawing. The photoluminescence results clearly show that such an ionic copper-doped fiber constitutes a potential candidate for UV-C (200-280 nm) radiation dosimetry. Indeed, the Cu⁺-related visible photoluminescence of the fiber shows a linear response to 244 nm light excitation measured for an irradiation power up to 2.7 mW at least on the Cu-doped PCF core. Moreover, this response was found to be fully reversible within the measurement accuracy of this study ( ± 1%), underlying the remarkable stability of copper in the Cu⁺ oxidation state within the pure silica core prepared by a sol-gel route. This reversibility offers possibilities for the achievement of reusable real-time optical fiber UV-C dosimeters.

Inactivation and tailing during UV254 disinfection of viruses: contributions of viral aggregation, light shielding within viral aggregates, and recombination

UV disinfection of viruses frequently leads to tailing after an initial exponential decay. Aggregation, light shielding, recombination, or resistant virus subpopulations have been proposed as explanations; however, none of these options has been conclusively demonstrated. This study investigates how aggregation affects virus inactivation by UV(254) in general, and the tailing phenomenon in particular. Bacteriophage MS2 was aggregated by lowering the solution pH before UV(254) disinfection. Aggregates were redispersed prior to enumeration to obtain the remaining fraction of individual infectious viruses. Results showed that initial inactivation kinetics were similar for viruses incorporated in aggregates (up to 1000 nm in radius) and dispersed viruses; however, aggregated viruses started to tail more readily than dispersed ones. Neither light shielding, nor the presence of resistant subpopulations could account for the tailing. Instead, tailing was consistent with recombination arising from the simultaneous infection of the host by several impaired viruses. We argue that UV(254) treatment of aggregates permanently fused a fraction of viruses, which increased the likelihood of multiple infection of a host cell and ultimately enabled the production of infective viruses via recombination.