Direct binding of ethanol to bovine serum albumin: A fluorescent and C-13 NMR multiplet relaxation study

Molecular mechanisms of ethanol interaction with proteins are not well-understood. In the present study, direct interaction of ethanol with hydrophobic binding sites on fatty acid free bovine serum albumin (BSA) was determined using the fluorescent probe 1-anilinonaphthalene-8-sulfonic acid (1,8-ANS), cis-parinaric acid, and C-13 NMR. The affinity of ethanol for BSA (K-d) was (5.21 +/- 0.31) x 10(-2) mol. Ethanol (25-200 mmol) competitively inhibited 1,8-ANS binding to BSA in a concentration-dependent manner with a K-i (concentration of ethanol that decreased 1,8-ANS binding by 50%) of 658 mmol. Preincubation of BSA with ethanol significantly decreased cis-parinaric acid binding to BSA, indicating interaction of ethanol with hydrophobic fatty acid-binding site(s) on BSA. Furthermore, ethanol was found to act on three of the five fatty acid-binding sites on BSA, These data indicated selectivity in the interaction of ethanol with hydrophobic sites on BSA, C-13 NMR multiplet relaxation was used to characterize the interaction of ethanol with binding sites on BSA. Detailed analysis of [C-13]ethanol relaxation data obtained in the presence of increasing BSA concentrations (25-200 mg/mL) led to the conclusion that the ethanol methyl group, as opposed to its hydroxyl group, binds in a hydrophobic pocket(s) on the protein. Ethanol-induced changes in activity of certain proteins may result from direct binding of ethanol to specific hydrophobic binding sites and/or displacement of endogenous ligands from those sites.