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    STUDIA CHEMIA - Issue no. 1 / 2004  
         
  Article:   SIMULATIONS OF SOME BIOMEMBRANE INTERFACIAL PHENOMENA. I. SPECIFIC MOLECULAR INTERACTIONS BETWEEN BOVINE SERUM ALBUMIN AND MELATONIN.

Authors:  AURORA MOCANU, GHEORGHE TOMOAIA, MARIA TOMOAIA-COTISEL, CSABA RACZ, CRISTINA RAMONA ISPAS, JANOS ZSAKO. 		 
       
         
  Abstract:  This study was designed to investigate the effect of melatonin on the bovine serum albumin (BSA) at the air/aqueous solutions interfaces. Melatonin is a known secretory hormone of the pineal gland with multiple actions "in vitro" and "in vivo", namely, it clearly protects macromolecules from oxidative damage. This hypothesis is supported by our experimental data which show that melatonin specifically interact with bovine serum albumin (BSA). Our findings indicate that melatonin increases the surface pressure of BSA adsorbed films exerting a substantial stabilizing effect on BSA interfacial self-assembled films at the air/water interface. This effect suggests that melatonin might act as a protective agent of macromolecules "in vitro" and "in vivo" through physicochemical specific interactions with bio-molecules, such as BSA, and/or with their biologically active assemblies. As a consequence, melatonin may facilitate the inhibition of the peroxidation damage of bio-molecules by increasing their supramolecular assemblies stability. Our results confirm both the involvement of melatonin in specific interactions with BSA and its remarkable effect on the stabilization of biological compounds at fluid interfaces.  
         
     
         
         
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