Structural caracterization of melanotropic peptides and their interaction with amphilic aggregates: a study by fluorescence and electron spin resonance

Author(s)

Roberto Morato Fernandez

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Física (IF/SBI)
• Defense date: 2002-01-31

Examining board members

Maria Teresa Moura Lamy; Iouri Borissevitch; Rosangela Itri; Sonia Renaux Wanderley Louro; Otaciro Rangel Nascimento

• Advisor: Maria Teresa Moura Lamy

Abstract

Some studies with the cationic melanotropic peptide a-MSH (a-melanocyte stimulating hormone), and analogues biologically more active are presented here. Steady-state and time resolved fluorescence and EPR (electron paramagnetic resonance) have been used. Peptide structural information was obtained by the fluorescence spectroscopy of both the amino acid Trp (tryptophan), present in all the peptides monitored here, and that of D-Nal (D-naphtyl alanine), present only in cyclic analogues. EPR of spin labels incorporated in anionic lipid dispersions of DMPG (1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-rac-glycerol) has been used to study amphiphilic aggregate structure and peptide/lipid interaction. EPR was also applied to a comparative structural study of the paramagnetic amino acid Toac (2,2 ,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl-4-amino-4-carboxylic acid), covalently bound to a-MSH and its linear analogue MSH-1 (Nle4, DPhe7-a-MSH). With spin labels incorporated into the bilayers, it is shown that there is a correlation between the packing of fluid DMPG membranes, caused by a-MSH/lipid interaction, and the increase in bilayer interchain hydration. In frozen samples, alterations on the lipid bilayer polarity profile are shown to be different from those obtained at room temperature, particularly in the presence of polar molecules. It is shown here that paramagnetic phospholipids labeled at the 16th carbon of the acylchain, incorporated in DMPG vesicles, monitor the presence of two distinct sites in the lipid bilayer intermediate phase (between the gel and liquid crystal phases) . The presence of the two different spin populations is evident comparing the EPR spectra obtained in the presence and absence of a-MSH, as the peptide seems to make disappear one of the microenvironments monitored by the spin label. (AU)