Pathological states in the organism, e.g., renal or hepatic diseases, cataract, dysfunction of coronary artery, diabetes mellitus, and also intensive workout, induce the structural modification of proteins called molecular ageing or N-A isomerization. The aim of this study was to analyze the structural changes of serum albumin caused by alkaline ageing using absorption, spectrofluorescence, and circular dichroism spectroscopy. The N-A isomerization generates significant changes in bovine (BSA) and human (HSA) serum albumin subdomains—the greatest changes were observed close to the tryptophanyl (Trp) and tyrosyl (Tyr) residue regions while a smaller change was observed in phenyloalanine (Phe) environment. Moreover, the changes in the polarity of the Trp neighborhood as well as the impact of the ageing process on α-helix, β-sheet content, and albumin molecule rotation degree have been analyzed. Based on the spectrofluorescence study, the alterations in metoprolol binding affinity to the specific sites that increase the toxicity of the drug were investigated.

Human serum albumin (HSA) is the main plasma protein responsible for a distribution of drugs in the human circulatory system. The binding to HSA is one of the factors that determines both the pharmacological actions and the side effects of drugs. The derivative of heme, protoporphyrin IX (PpIX), is a hydrophobic photosensitizer widely used in photodynamic diagnosis and therapy of various malignant disorders. Using absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy, it has been demonstrated that PpIX forms complexes with HSA. Its binding sites in the tertiary structure of HSA were found in the subdomains IB and IIA. PpIX binds to HSA in one class of binding sites with the association constant of 1.68 × 10⁵ M⁻¹ and 2.30 × 10⁵ M⁻¹ for an excitation at wavelength λ_ex = 280 nm and 295 nm, respectively. The binding interactions between HSA and PpIX have been studied by means of molecular docking simulation using the CLC Drug Discovery Workbench (CLC DDWB) computer program. PpIX creates a strong ‘sandwich-type’ complex between its highly conjugated porphine system and aromatic side chains of tryptophan and tyrosine. In summary, fluorescent studies on binding interactions between HSA and PpIX have been confirmed by the results of computer simulation.

Structural changes of human serum albumin (HSA) caused by old age and coexisting diseases result in differences in the binding of doxazosin (DOX). DOX is a postsynaptic α1- adrenoreceptor antagonist used for treatment of hypertension and benign prostatic hyperplasia. In elderly people suffering from various renal or hepatic diseases the significant portion of N-form of human serum albumin (normal) is converted to A-form (aged). The differences in binding of doxazosin to N- and Aform of albumin are an important factor, which may determines therapeutic dosage and toxicity of the test drug. To indicate these differences, the technique of fluorescence spectroscopy was used. The association constant (K_a) obtained from fluorescence quenching demonstrated that doxazosin has higher affinity for AHSA than for HSA. In order to describe the cooperativity in binding process, the values of the Hill’s coefficient has been analysed. For DOX-HSA system (λ_ex 295 nm) Hill’s coefficient is close to 1 and it indicates that there is a single class of binding sites. For DOX-HSA (λ_ex 275 nm) and DOX-AHSA (λ_ex 275 nm and λ_ex 295 nm) systems we observed positive cooperativity (n_H>1). A greater red shift of fluorescence emission maximum of AHSA than HSA in the presence of DOX was observed. This suggests that the binding of DOX to AHSA was accompanied by a stronger increase in polarity around the fluorophores in comparison to HSA. The binding interaction between DOX and HSA has been also studied by molecular docking simulation.