Biomedical subjects

Thomas Troxler

Publications and source records attributed to Thomas Troxler.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Phosphorescent oxygen sensor with dendritic protection and two-photon absorbing antenna.

Imaging oxygen in 3D with submicron spatial resolution can be made possible by combining phosphorescence quenching technique with multiphoton laser scanning microscopy. Because Pt and Pd porphyrin-based phosphorescent dyes, traditionally used as phosphors in biological oxygen measurements, exhibit extremely low two-photon absorption (2PA) cross-sections, we designed a nanosensor for oxygen, in which a 2P absorbing antenna is coupled to a metalloporphyrin core via intramolecular energy transfer (ET) with the purpose of amplifying the 2PA induced phosphorescence of the metalloporphyrin. The central component of the device is a polyfunctionalized Pt porphyrin, whose triplet state emission at ambient temperatures is strong, occurs in the near infrared and is sensitive to O2. The 2PA chromophores are chosen in such a way that their absorption is maximal in the near infrared (NIR) window of tissue (e.g., 700-900 nm), while their fluorescence is overlapped with the absorption band(s) of the core metalloporphyrin, ensuring an efficient antenna-core resonance ET. The metalloporphyrin-antenna construct is embedded inside the protecting dendritic jacket, which isolates the core from interactions with biological macromolecules, controls diffusion of oxygen and makes the entire sensor water-soluble. Several Pt porphyrin-coumarin based sensors were synthesized and their photophyics studied to evaluate the proposed design.

Absorption↗

PubMed2004

Melittin as model system for probing interactions between proteins and cyclodextrins.

Cylcodextrin sugars are cyclic sugars that have a hydrophilic exterior and a hydrophobic center. This enables cyclodextrins to solubilize hydrophobic molecules in aqueous media. Cyclodextrins may inhibit aggregation by intercalating surface aromatic residues and competing with interprotein aromatic clusters (pi-pi interactions). In order to investigate this concept, the interaction of hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HPBCD) with melittin is studied with steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence, fluorescence polarization, circular dichroism, and IR spectroscopy. HPBCD inhibits the aggregation of melittin. This inhibition and the spectroscopic results are consistent with the lone aromatic tryptophan of the peptide being intercalated within HPBCD.

2-Hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin↗

PubMed2004

Active site-independent recognition of substrates and product by bovine prothrombinase: a fluorescence resonance energy transfer study.

The conversion of prothrombin to thrombin is catalyzed by prothrombinase, an enzyme complex composed of the serine proteinase factor Xa and a cofactor protein, factor Va, assembled on membranes. Kinetic studies indicate that interactions with extended macromolecular recognition sites (exosites) rather than the active site of prothrombinase are the principal determinants of binding affinity for substrate or product. We now provide a model-independent evaluation of such ideas by physical studies of the interaction of substrate derivatives and product with prothrombinase. The enzyme complex was assembled using Xa modified with a fluorescent peptidyl chloromethyl ketone to irreversibly occlude the active site. Binding was inferred by prethrombin 2-dependent perturbations in the fluorescence of Oregon Green(488) at the active site of prothrombinase. Active site-independent binding was also unequivocally established by fluorescence resonance energy transfer between 2,6-dansyl tethered to the active site of Xa and eosin tethered to the active sites of either thrombin or meizothrombin des fragment 1. Comparable interprobe distances obtained from these measurements suggest that substrate and product interact equivalently with the enzyme. Competition established the ability of a range of substrate or product derivatives to bind in a mutually exclusive fashion to prothrombinase. Equilibrium dissociation constants obtained for the active site-independent binding of prothrombin, prethrombin 2, meizothrombin des fragment 1 and thrombin to prothrombinase were comparable with their affinities inferred from kinetic studies using active enzyme. Our findings directly establish that binding affinity is principally determined by the exosite-mediated interaction of either the substrate, both possible intermediates, or product with prothrombinase. A single type of exosite binding interaction evidently drives affinity and binding specificity through the stepwise reactions necessary for the two cleavage reactions of prothrombin activation and product release.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Effect of protein dynamics upon reactions that occur in the heme pocket of horseradish peroxidase.

Free base and Pd porphyrin derivatives of horseradish peroxidase show long-lived excited states that are quenched by the presence of the peroxidase inhibitor, benzhydroxamic acid. The relaxation times of the excited-state luminescence and the rates of the quenching reaction for these derivatives of peroxidase were monitored as a function of pH, temperature, and viscosity with the view of examining how protein dynamics affect the quenching reaction. As solvent viscosity increases, the rate decreases, but at the limit of very high viscosity (i.e., high glycerol or sugar glass) the quenching still occurs. A model is presented that is consistent with the known structure of the enzyme-inhibitor complex. It is considered that the inhibitor is held at an established position but that solvent-dependent and independent motions allow a limited diffusion of the two reactants. Since there is a steep dependence upon distance and orientation, the diffusion toward the favorable position for reaction enhances the reaction rate. The solvent viscosity dependent and independent effects were separated and analyzed. The importance of internal reaction dynamics is demonstrated in the observation that rigidity of solvent imposed by incorporating the protein into glass at room temperature allows the reaction to occur, while the reaction is inhibited at low temperature. The results emphasize that protein dynamics plays a role in determining reaction rates.

Binding Sites↗

PubMed2002

R150A mutant of F TraI relaxase domain: reduced affinity and specificity for single-stranded DNA and altered fluorescence anisotropy of a bound labeled oligonucleotide.

F factor TraI is a helicase and a single-stranded DNA nuclease ("relaxase") essential for conjugative DNA transfer. A TraI domain containing relaxase activity, TraI36, was generated previously. Substituting Ala for Arg150 (R150A) of TraI36 reduces in vitro relaxase activity. The mutant has reduced affinity, relative to wild type, for a 3'-TAMRA-labeled 22-base single-stranded oligonucleotide. While both R150A and wild-type TraI36 bind oligonucleotide, only wild type increases steady-state fluorescence anisotropy of the labeled 22-base oligonucleotide upon binding. In contrast, binding by either protein increases steady-state anisotropy of a 3'-TAMRA-labeled 17-base oligonucleotide. Time-resolved intensity data for both oligonucleotides, bound and unbound, require three lifetimes for adequate fits, at least one more than the fluorophore alone. The preexponential amplitude for the longest lifetime increases upon binding. Time-resolved anisotropy data for both oligonucleotides, bound and unbound, require two rotational correlation times for adequate fits. The longer correlation time increases upon protein binding. Correlation times for the protein-bound 17-base oligonucleotide are similar for both proteins, with the longer correlation time in the range of molecular tumbling of the protein-DNA complex. In contrast, protein binding causes less dramatic increases in correlation times for the 22-base oligonucleotide relative to the 17-base oligonucleotide. Binding studies indicate that R150 contributes to recognition of bases immediately 3' to the DNA cleavage site, consistent with the apparent proximity of R150 and the 3' oligonucleotide end. Models in which the R150A substitution alters single-stranded DNA flexibility at the oligonucleotide 3' end or affects fluorophore-DNA or fluorophore-protein interactions are discussed.

Alanine↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Drug design at peptide receptors: somatostatin receptor ligands.

Somatostatin (SRIF, somatotropin release inhibiting factor), discovered for its inhibitory action on growth hormone (GH) secretion from pituitary, is an abundant neuropeptide. Two forms, SRIF14 and SRIF28 exist. Recently, a second family of peptides with very similar sequences and features was described; the cortistatins (CST), CST17 and CST29 which are brain selective. The five cloned SRIF receptors (sst1-5) belong to the G-protein coupled/ heptathelical receptor family. Structural and operational features distinguish two classes of receptors; SRIF1 - sst2/sst3/sst5 (high affinity for octreotide or seglitide) and SRIF2 = sst1/sst4(very low affinitty for the aforementioned ligands). The affinity of SRIF receptors for somatostatins and cortistatins is equally high, and it is not clear whether selective receptors do exist for one or the other of the peptides. Several radiologlands label all SRIF receptors, e.g., [125]LTT-SRIF28' [l25I]CGP23996, [125]Tyr10cortistatin or [125I]Tyr11SRIF14. In contrast, [125I]Tyr3octreotide, [125I]BIM23027, [125I]MK678 or [125I]D-Trp8SRIF14 label predominantly SRIF1 sites, especially sst2 and possibly sst5 receptors. In brain, [125I]Tyr3octreotide binding equates with sst2 receptor mRNA distribution. Native SRIF2receptors can be labeled with [125I]SRIF14 in the presence of high NaCl in brain (sst1) or lung (sst4) tissue. Short cyclic or linear peptide analogs show selectivity for sst2/sst5 (octreotide, lanreotide, BIM 23027), sst1 (CH-275), sst3 (sst3-ODN-8), or sst5 receptors (BIM 23268); although claims for selectivity have not always been confirmed. Beta peptides ith affinity for SRIF receptors are also reported. The general lack of SRIF receptor antagonists is unique for peptide receptors, although CYN 154806 is a selective and potent sst2 antagonist. Nonpeptide ligands are still rare, although a number of molecules have been reported with selectivity and potency for sst1 (L 757,519), sst2 (L 779,976), sst3 (L 796,778), sst4 (NNC 26-9100, L 803,087) or sst1/sst5 receptors (L 817,018). Such molecules are essential to establish the role of SRIF receptors, e.g., sst1 in hypothalamic glutamate currents: sst2 in inhibiting release of GH, glucagon, TSH, gastric acid secretion, pain, seizures and tumor growth, and sst5 in vascular remodeling and inhibition of insulin and GH release.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Probing the active site of trypsin with rose bengal: insights into the photodynamic inactivation of the enzyme.

In this work the active site of trypsin has been probed with the dye rose bengal. The dye binds competitively to the enzyme, and it can be used as a probe of the active site of the enzyme. On the basis of the emission wavelength, the binding site of trypsin is relatively polar and is similar to that of acetone in its polarity. The triplet state of rose bengal is quenched by trypsin. This quenching may be caused by the tryptophan and tyrosine residues that are in the near vicinity of the trypsin active site. This quenching can compete with the formation of singlet oxygen from the excited triplet state of rose bengal. We demonstrate that the singlet oxygen involved in the photoinactivation of trypsin is produced by the free rose bengal in solution and the bound dye is incapable of producing singlet oxygen. This explains the lack of correlation between photoinactivation efficiency and sensitizer binding capability previously reported by Wade and Spikes.

Binding Sites↗