Study of eye lens alpha crystalline structural changes upon interaction with methyl tertbutyl ether (MTBE)

Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) is an oxygenate additive to increase the octane quality of gasoline and decrease air CO content. MTBE can cause environmental pollution and has the cancer-inducing potential as shown by different researches on laboratory animals. Since MTBE is released to air in large amount especially in the polluted air, it is important to examine its interaction with proteins. In this study, the effect of MTBE on eye lens alpha crystalline has been investigated. In order to investigate this interaction, different concentrations of MTBE were added to the protein solution (from 5 to 35 μM). Different spectroscopic methods such as UV- Vis, fluorescence, and chemiluminescence have been applied to show the structural alterations. The protein absorbance was increased by increasing MTBE concentration. Alpha crystalline extrinsic fluorescence emission was also increased as a result of MTBE addition. Furthermore, the amount of reactive oxygen species was increased in the presence of MTBE. Results show that MTBE can induce significant structural changes to alpha crystalline. This may lead to consequent functional problems which cause different eye illnesses

کلیدواژه ها:

Alpha crystalline ، MTBE ، Spectroscopy