title: A natural compound (reuterin) produced by Lactobacillus reuteri for hemoglobin polymerization as a blood substitute.
abstract: Stroma-free hemoglobin (Hb) has been modified by pyridoxylation and followed by polymerization with glutaraldehyde as a blood substitute. Nevertheless, the reaction rate of pyridoxylated Hb (PLP-Hb) with glutaraldehyde is too fast to control its molecular weight distribution. Additionally, it was reported that glutaraldehyde is cytotoxic even at low doses. To overcome these problems, another aldehyde, beta-hydroxypropionaldehyde (beta-HPA), was used in the study to polymerize hemoglobin (PLP-Hb). beta-HPA is a natural compound (reuterin) produced by Lactobacillus reuteri. It was found that the maximum degree of PLP-Hb polymerization by reuterin (RR-PLP-Hb) was approximately 40% if the formation of high molecular (> 500 kDa) polymers should be prevented. In contrast, at the same reaction condition, the glutaraldehyde-polymerized PLP-Hb solution became gel-like, due to overpolymerization. This indicated that the rate of PLP-Hb polymerization by reuterin was significantly slower than that by glutaraldehyde. With increasing the reaction temperature, PLP-Hb concentration, or reuterin-to-PLP-Hb molar ratio, the time to reach the maximum degree of PLP-Hb polymerization by reuterin became significantly shorter. Removal of unpolymerized PLP-Hb from the RR-PLP-Hb solution can be effectively achieved by a gel-filtration column. The P(50) value of the unmodified Hb solution was 14 torr, while that of the RR-PLP-Hb solution was 20 torr, an indication of lower oxygen affinity. Additionally, the oxygen-Hb dissociation curves for both test solutions had a sigmodial shape and a nearly 100% saturation at 100 torr. In the in vivo study, it was found that the animals treated with the RR-PLP-Hb solution all survived and remained healthy more than 3 months. In contrast, only one out of six rats survived for the control group treated with the unmodified Hb solution. Furthermore, it was found that the RR-PLP-Hb solution resulted in a significantly longer circulation time ( approximately 12 h) than the unmodified Hb solution ( approximately 1.5 h). These results suggest that the reuterin-polymerized PLP-Hb solution may be a new option in the development of blood substitutes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yi-Chien
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Wen-Hsiang
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Yen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Chun-Ming
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Hsing-Wen
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Sung
mesh_terms: D000447:Aldehydes; D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001802:Blood Substitutes / Q000737:chemistry*; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents / Q000737:chemistry; D005976:Glutaral / Q000737:chemistry; D005985:Glyceraldehyde / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000737:chemistry*; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000737:chemistry*; D008297:Male; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D011407:Propane; D011732:Pyridoxal Phosphate / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013552:Swine
chemical_list: D000447:Aldehydes; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001802:Blood Substitutes; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents; D006454:Hemoglobins; D011108:Polymers; C016484:hemoglobin, stroma free; C030939:polyhemoglobin-pyridoxal-5-phosphate; C047158:3-hydroxypropionaldehyde; D005985:Glyceraldehyde; D011732:Pyridoxal Phosphate; D005976:Glutaral; D011407:Propane