Chem. J. Chinese Universities ›› 2013, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (1): 225.doi: 10.7503/cjcu20120351

• Polymer Chemistry • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Inhibitory Effect of Curcumin on Metal Ions-induced Conformational Transition of Silk Fibroin and Its Mechanism

ZHANG Yue-Hong, JIANG Teng, ZHAO Xue-Zhou, ZHOU Ping   

  1. State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Department of Macromolecular Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
  • Received:2012-04-13 Published:2012-12-31

Abstract:

The inhibitory effect of curcumin on the Cu(Ⅱ) and Zn(Ⅱ)-induced conformation transition of silk fibroin(SF) as a model protein of neurodegenerative diseases, was investigated for aiming at investigating the potency of curcumin in the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. The results indicate that curcumin can inhibit Cu(Ⅱ) and Zn(Ⅱ)-induced conformational transition of SF through chelating Cu(Ⅱ) and Zn(Ⅱ), meanwhile, Cu(Ⅱ)-curcumin complex also has ability to inhibit the conformation transition of SF, but Zn(Ⅱ)-curcumin complex does not. Therefore, based on those results about the effective interference of curcumin on Cu(Ⅱ) and Zn(Ⅱ)-induced conformation transition of SF, curcumin could be suggested as a potential agent for the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

Key words: Cu(Ⅱ) ion, Zn(Ⅱ) ion, Curcumin, Silk fibroin, Conformation transition, Circular dichroism, Inhibitory effect

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