Anionic Ferrocenyl Peptide Surfactants: Interaction with Bovine Serum Albumin and Inhibition of Amyloids

04 June 2025, Version 1
This content is a preprint and has not undergone peer review at the time of posting.

Abstract

The interaction study of anionic surfactants with albumins has emerged as an important area of research and is widely considered as a model for gaining fundamental insight into surfactant protein binding, which is helpful in both chemical and biological applications. This study involves the interactions of five ferrocene-linked peptide anionic surfactants (FcS1-5) with bovine serum albumin (BSA). Micropolarity assay, steady state fluorescence (at different temperatures) and circular dichroism spectroscopic techniques were utilized to evaluate the interaction of FcS-BSA systems. The ferrocenyl surfactant quenches the intrinsic fluorescence of BSA due to ground state complexation. The binding of FcS with BSA is predominantly through hydrophobic interactions. Circular dichroism study reveals that ferrocenyl peptides can maintain the conformation of BSA in its native state up to a specific concentration, beyond which the BSA structure is disrupted. Among all FcS, FcS4 was found to be the best, with low critical aggregation concentration and stronger binding with BSA. Further, the ability of FcS4 to inhibit amyloidosis in BSA was established using Thioflavin T assay and fluorescence microscopy. These ferrocenyl peptide amphiphiles have the potential to be used in biological and pharmaceutical industry resulting from their ability to interact with intrinsically disordered proteins.

Keywords

Amyloidosis inhibition
Ferrocene peptide amphiphile
BSA interaction
anionic surfactants

Supplementary materials

Title
Description
Actions
Title
Anionic Ferrocenyl Peptide Surfactants: Interaction with Bovine Serum Albumin and Inhibition of Amyloids
Description
It has been already demonstrated that Ferrocenyl linked drug/ biologically active molecules can influence protein stability. Therefore, we were particularly interested in studying our synthesized ferrocene- linked peptide surfactants, as surfactants themselves are well-known for their ability to regulate protein folding, often acting as stabilizers or denaturants, depending upon their concentration and structure. We have strategically combined the dual properties ferrocene and surfactant into a single molecule by integrating ferrocene with amphiphilic peptide. Which offered a compelling and interesting opportunity to carry out this study.
Actions

Comments

Comments are not moderated before they are posted, but they can be removed by the site moderators if they are found to be in contravention of our Commenting Policy [opens in a new tab] - please read this policy before you post. Comments should be used for scholarly discussion of the content in question. You can find more information about how to use the commenting feature here [opens in a new tab] .
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy [opens in a new tab] and Terms of Service [opens in a new tab] apply.