CONFORMATION OF HUMAN CALCITONIN GENE-RELATED PEPTIDE (8-37) IN AQUEOUS-SOLUTION AS DETERMINED BY CIRCULAR-DICHROISM SPECTROSCOPY

Circular dichroism (CD) studies on CGRP(8-37) indicate that there is s ome latent alpha-helical structure in aqueous solution. However, the a mount is quite small (approximately 10% at 5-degrees-C), which is subs tantially less than for CGRP itself (approximately 15-20%). Upon addit ion of helix-promoting materials, such as trifluoroethanol and sodium dodecyl sulphate, the helix content increases dramatically. No evidenc e for helix stabilization upon the addition of zinc was observed.