1982 Volume 30 Issue 10 Pages 3822-3826
The effects of some uremic toxins on the structure of normal human plasma albumin were investigated in order to cast light on the state of plasma albumin of patients with chronic renal failure. Two different ion exchange columns were prepared to isolate and purify albumin, and β-indoleacetic acid (IAA), β-indolebutyric acid (IBA), guanidinosuccinic acid (GSA) or urea as a uremic toxin was added to the normal plasma albumin. α-Helix contents as estimated from the circular dichroism spectra were found to be little affected by uremic toxins. The effect of uremic toxins on the binding of a fluorescent probe, 1-anilino-8-naphthalene sulfonate (ANS), to albumin was examined by calculating the binding parameters, the association constant and the number of binding sites. All uremic toxins decreased the association constants. GSA and urea decreased the number of binding sites, while IAA and IBA increased them. These effects increased as the concentrations of toxins added were increased, especially with IAA and IBA.
