Measurement of environmental formylmethionyl‐peptides

作者：Paul D. Siegel, E. A. Ronk, Pamela Clark, Tracy A. Shahan, Vincent Castranova · 发表于：Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health · 年份：1994 · DOI：10.1080/15287399409531879 · 被引用次数：5 · 研究领域：Effects and risks of endocrine disrupting chemicals、Toxic Organic Pollutants Impact

Formylmethionyl-peptides are naturally occurring, biologically active ligands produced by bacteria. They produce a variety of biological effects including neutrophil chemotaxis, cellular degranulation, oxygen-free radical production, and smooth muscle contraction. Our studies have demonstrated that oxidized and reduced forms of formylmethionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP) can be detected in bulk environmental organic dust samples. Organic dust fMLP content may not reflect total formylmethionyl-peptide content and pathological sequelae. Attempts to develop a total formylmethionyl-peptide assay that would reflect its pathological potential have thus far been unsuccessful. Information has been derived concerning the biology of formylmethionyl-peptides from these studies. Chromatographic, radioenzymatic, and radioreceptor-ligand binding studies were performed. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of synthetic and environmental fMLP demonstrated that fMLP is labile, forming three oxidation products. HPLC is limited by inadequate sensitivity for air sample analysis and the probability of the presence of multiple formylmethionyl-peptides. Deformylases were isolated from Escherichia coli, but their usefulness in a competitive assay to detect formylmethionyl-peptides was limited by specificity differences from that for biological receptors. Receptor binding studies were conducted in an attempt to replace the deformylase with a biological receptor. The receptor binding...