Spectroscopic Analysis of the Cytoagglutinating Activity of Abrin-b Isolated from Abrus precatorius Seeds against Leukemic Cells

Abstract

The cytoagglutinating activity of abrin-b, a toxic lectin isolated from Abrus precatorius seeds, against cultured cell strains derived from accute lymphoblast leukemia (ALL) was investigated by visible (VIS) spectroscopy. Upon addition of abrin-b, the turbidity at 600 nm of cell suspension decreased and this change could be recorded as the cytoagglutination curve. From this curve, the cytoag-glutination velocity (CV) and cytoagglutination intensity (CI) of each cell strain was measured. Each cell strain showed the respective CV and CI values and the cell strains derived from the T cell line were strongly agglutinated by abrin-b compared with those derived from the B cell line. Further, it has become apparent that the cytoagglutinating activity increased with an increase in the order of the differentiation of cell strains. © 1997, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.