Fluorescence properties and sequestration of peripheral anionic site specific ligands in bile acid hosts: Effect on acetylcholinesterase inhibition activity

Abstract

The increase in fluorescence intensity of model acetyl cholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors like propidium iodide (PI) and ethidium bromide (EB) is due to sequestration of the probes in primary micellar aggregates of bile acid (BA) host medium with moderate binding affinity of ca. 102–103M−1. Multiple regression analysis of solvent dependent fluorescence behavior of PI indicates the decrease in total nonradiative decay rate due to partial shielding of the probe from hydrogen bond donation ability of the aqueous medium in bile acid bound fraction. Both PI and EB affects AChE activity through mixed inhibition and consistent with one site binding model; however, PI (IC50=20±1μM) shows greater inhibition in comparison with EB (IC50=40±3μM) possibly due to stronger interaction with enzyme active site. The potency of AChE inhibition for both the compounds is drastically reduced in the presence of bile acid due to the formation of BA-inhibitor complex and subsequent reduction of active inhibitor fraction in the medium. Although the inhibition mechanism still remains the same, the course of catalytic reaction critically depends on equilibrium binding among several species present in the solution; particularly at low inhibitor concentration. All the kinetic parameters for enzyme inhibition reaction are nicely correlated with the association constant for BA-inhibitor complex formation.