Abstract
The activity of alanine aminotransferase (ALT; E.C. 2.6.1.2) is often changed upon inflammatory responses in animals. Rare earths was shown to provoke various inflammatory responses both in rats and mice; however, the molecular mechanism by which rare earths exert its toxicity has not been completely understood, especially, we know little about the mechanism of the interaction between CeCl3 and ALT. In this report, we investigated the mechanisms of CeCl3 on ALT activity in vivo and in vitro. Our results showed that Ce3+ could significantly activate ALT in vivo and in vitro; the kinetics constant (Km) and Vmax were 0.018 µM and 1,380 unit mg−1 protein min−1, respectively, at a low concentration of Ce3+, and 0.027 µM and 624 unit mg−1 protein min−1, respectively, at a high concentration of Ce3+. By UV absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy assays, the Ce3+ was determined to be directly bound to ALT; the binding site of Ce3+ to ALT was 1.72, and the binding constants of the binding site were 4.82 × 108 and 9.05 × 107 L mol−1. Based on the analysis of the circular dichroism spectra, it was concluded that the binding of Ce3+ altered the secondary structure of ALT, suggesting that the observed enhancement of ALT activity was caused by a subtle structural change in the active site through the formation of the complex with Ce3+.
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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 30901218) and by the Medical Development Foundation of Suzhou University (grant no. EE120701) and by the National Bringing New Ideas Foundation of Student of China (grant nos. 57315427 and 57315927).
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Li, N., Duan, Y., Liu, C. et al. The Mechanism of CeCl3 on the Activiation of Alanine Aminotransferase from Mice. Biol Trace Elem Res 136, 187–196 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-009-8529-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-009-8529-0