Theoretical and experimental studies of the interaction between human serum albumin and artepillin C, an active principle of the brazilian green propolis

Abstract

The Brazilian green propolis is produced in the south eastern region of the country by Apis mellifera bees, which use plants of the species Baccharis dracunculifolia as a source of extraction. This type of propolis has several biological activities, which are usually linked to the presence of the natural compound Artepillin C. Human serum albumin (HSA) is the main carrier of small molecules in the bloodstream and, in view of the pharmacological potential of Artepillin C, the main goal of the present work is the study of the interaction HSA:Artepillin C by spectroscopic techniques (circular dichroism, steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence), zeta potential and molecular docking. The interaction HSA:Artepillin C occurs in the ground-state at the site I of albumin and is entropically and enthalpically driven. The presence of Artepillin C entails a small perturbation on the secondary structure of the albumin and no significant perturbation on its surface. Molecular docking studies suggest that the main controlling forces of the interaction HSA:Artepillin C are van der Waals, hydrophobic and hydrogen bonding.