Ilaprazole metabolites, ilaprazole sulfone and ilaprazole sulfide decreased the affinity of ilaprazole to bovine serum albumin

The interaction of ilaprazole (IPZ), ilaprazole sulfone (IPZO) and ilaprazole sulfide (IPZI) with bovine serum albumin (BSA), and the effect of IPZO and IPZI on the interaction of IPZ with BSA have been investigated by fluorescence, synchronous fluorescence, ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and circular dichroism (CD). The results indicated that IPZ, IPZO and IPZI had a strong ability to quench the intrinsic fluorescence of BSA, and the binding affinities were significantly affected by structures in the order IPZ>IPZO>IPZI, while the van der Waals force and hydrogen bond played major roles in their binding with BSA. The analysis of synchronous fluorescence, FT-IR and CD spectra showed the change in secondary structure of BSA upon interaction with IPZ, IPZO or IPZI. Site marker competitive experiments indicated that their binding to BSA primarily took place in subdomain IIA. The presence of IPZO and IPZI decreased the quenching constants of IPZ with BSA by about 68.4% and 95.1%, respectively, which possibly resulted from the existence of competitive binding between IPZ and its metabolites with BSA. However, IPZO and IPZI did not change the quenching mechanism of IPZ with BSA, while all the fluorescence quenching was initiated by static quenching procedure combined with non-radiative energy transfer. Our results may have relevant insight into IPZʹs bioavailability and efficacy affected by its metabolites.