The Effect of Pesticides on the Structural Changes of Human Serum Albumin Protein: A Systematic Review

Human Serum Albumin (HSA) is one of the most abundant proteins in the blood vascular system which regulates the transportation of many chemical compounds and molecules. The purpose of this study is to review the studies about the effects of three groups of pesticides (Insecticides, herbicides and fungicides) on the molecular structure of HSA protein. 

This systematic review covers 35 studies of biophysical studies of the effect of pesticides on HSA protein. These papers were searched in PubMed, Science Direct, Web of Science databases and using Google Scholar search engine among those published from 1980 to 2019. 

In this study, all ethical principles were considered.

Given the close relationship between biological activities of HSA and its secondary structure, the most of the reviewed articles analyzed the secondary structures of the HSA using various biophysical methods such as Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), Circular Dichroism (CD) and computational analysis. In general, HSA-pesticides interactions can cause a reduction in α-helix structure and an increase in other secondary structures including β-sheet, β-anti, and random coils. In the most reports, it has been proven that the pesticides interact with HSA through hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding. These interactions take place in the IIA subdomain (Site 1) of HSA. The binding constants of these interactions were in the range of 10 3 to 10 6 M-1.

The changes around the single important tryptophan residue of HSA (Trp-214) induce conformational deformity in the IIA subdomain of this protein which causes the loss of its native structure and leads to a decrease in free HSA concentrations which subsequently interrupt the transport of the essential compounds like drugs and hormones in the blood vascular system.