Gregor Blaha, Monira Siam and Harald Lehner
Binding studies on bovine serum albumin (BSA) with bilirubin (BR) have been performed under physiological conditions using circular dichroism (CD) and electronic absorption spectroscopy (UV–VIS). Analysis of data obtained from solutions at varying BSA/BR ratios (R), overall concentrations and pH suggests the coexistence of two similarly strong complexes with 1∶1 stoichiometry (Kass,Mca. 1 × 107 dm3 mol–1). Further binding to BSA affords associates for which a 2∶1 stoichiometry (Kass,Bca. 5 × 104 dm3 mol–1, pH = 7.4) is proposed. Results indicate that these aggregates comprise the main transport form of BR under physiological conditions. The role of the differently compounded BSA–BR complexes for controlling the concentration of unbound BR in the plasma is discussed. Preliminary experiments performed on human serum albumin (HSA) are in line with an analogous complexing behaviour.