Dr. Hall et al., STABILIZING EFFECT OF SUCROSE AGAINST IRREVERSIBLE DENATURATION OF RABBIT MUSCLE LACTATE-DEHYDROGENASE, Biophysical chemistry, 57(1), 1995, pp. 47-54
Measurements of the kinetics of activity loss by rabbit muscle lactate
dehydrogenase in acetate-chloride buffer, pH 5.0, I 0.20, have shown
that the enzyme exhibits greater stability against irreversible inacti
vation when the buffer is supplemented with sucrose (0.1 M-0.5 M). On
the basis of sedimentation equilibrium distributions obtained for enzy
me in the absence and presence of sucrose (0.5 M), the lactate dehydro
genase is essentially dimeric in both environments. The observed stabi
lization of enzyme activity has therefore been considered in terms of
the space-filling effects of sucrose on an isomerization equilibrium b
etween native and unfolded forms of dimeric lactate dehydrogenase, whi
ch precedes irreversible inactivation of the unfolded isomer. Interpre
tation of the kinetic results on that basis has led to the conclusion
that the initial stage of enzyme unfolding entails a minor change in v
olume and/or asymmetry of the lactate dehydrogenase that gives rise to
a 4% increase in the second virial coefficient describing excluded vo
lume interactions between dimeric enzyme and sucrose.