Dielectric study of the denaturation process in albumin-urea solutions

Author

Vassilikou-Dova, A. ; Grigorakakis, S. ; Kounelaki, A. ; Kapetanaki, A.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Phys., Athens Univ., Greece

fYear

1994

fDate

7-9 Sep 1994

Firstpage

875

Lastpage

880

Abstract

The dielectric relaxation of bovine serum albumin (BSA) aqueous solution was studied in various stages of urea denaturation, by means of the Thermally Stimulated Depolarization Currents (TSDC) technique. A large variation of urea concentration was utilized (0 to 4 M). Special attention was given to concentrations 0.006 and 0.046 M which are comparable to the ones measured in normal and uremic human serum. Three spectral bands were recorded in the temperature range 77 to 300 K which are attributed to the reorientation mechanisms of bulk and hydration water and protein macromolecules. The activation energies for all three mechanisms appear to be dependent on urea concentration and this result is discussed in terms of the conformational changes of albumin upon denaturation

Keywords

bioelectric phenomena; dielectric depolarisation; dielectric liquids; dielectric relaxation; electrets; molecular biophysics; organic compounds; proteins; thermally stimulated currents; 77 to 300 K; Thermally Stimulated Depolarization Currents; activation energies; albumin-urea solutions; denaturation process; dielectric relaxation; reorientation mechanisms; spectral bands; uremic human serum; Bovine; Dielectric losses; Hospitals; Humans; Hydrogen; Physics; Polarization; Proteins; Temperature distribution; Temperature measurement;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electrets, 1994. (ISE 8), 8th International Symposium on

Conference_Location

Paris

Print_ISBN

0-7803-1940-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ISE.1994.515241

Filename

515241