What befalls the proteins and water in a living cell when the cell dies?
The solvency of solutes of varying molecular size in the intracellular water of freshly-killed Ehrlich carcinoma cells fits the same theoretical curve that describes the solvency of similar solutes in a 36% solution of native bovine hemoglobin--a protein found only in red blood cells and making up 97.3% of the red cell's total intracellular proteins. The merging of the two sets of data confirms the prediction of the AI Hypothesis that key intracellular protein(s) in dying cells undergo(es) a transition from: (1) one in which the polypeptide NHCO groups assume a fully-extended conformation with relatively strong power of polarizing and orienting the bulk-phase water in multilayers; to (2) one in which most of the polypeptide NHCO groups are engaged in alpha-helical and other "introvert" conformations (see below for definition) with much weaker power in polarizing-orienting multilayers of bulk-phase water. This concordance of the two sets of data also shows that what we now call native hemoglobin--supposedly denoting hemoglobin found in its natural state in living red blood cells--, in fact, more closely resembles the water-polarizing, and -orienting intracellular proteins in dead cells. Although in the dead Ehrlich carcinoma cells as well as in the 36% solution of native hemoglobin, much of the protein's polypeptide NHCO groups are engaged in alpha-helical and other "introvert" conformation (Perutz 1969; Weissbluth 1974), both systems produce a weak but nonetheless pervasive and "long-range" water polarization and orientation. It is suggested that in both the dead Ehrlich carcinoma ascites cells and in the 36% native bovine hemoglobin solution, enough polypeptide NHCO groups assume the fully-extended conformation to produce the weak but far-reaching multilayer water polarization and orientation observed.
Ling
Gilbert N
GN
Damadian Foundation for Basic and Cancer Research, Melville, NY 11747, USA. gilbertling@dobar.org
Fu
Ya-zhen
YZ
D000818:Animals; D002286:Carcinoma, Ehrlich Tumor / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D002417:Cattle; D016923:Cell Death; D005110:Extracellular Space / Q000378:metabolism; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000737:chemistry*; D042541:Intracellular Space / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D008954:Models, Biological; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry; D011487:Protein Conformation; D014867:Water / Q000378:metabolism*
D006454:Hemoglobins; D010455:Peptides; D014867:Water