title: Melamine binding with arachidonic acid binding sites of albumin is a potential mechanism for melamine-induced inflammation.
abstract: Melamine adulteration of food is a public health concern. It has been seen that melamine causes disease in many organs. Melamine-induced kidney disease is a well-recognized clinicopathological entity. Inflammation is thought to be important in melamine-induced pathology. Melamine is expected to bind with albumin because it has a positive charge. Albumin binds arachidonic acid. So if binding of melamine with albumin takes place, it has the potential to displace arachidonic acid from the albumin bound state. This phenomenon may be the source of mediators of inflammation in the melamine exposure state. This aspect is investigated in the present study by docking and molecular dynamics simulation. It is observed that melamine binds with some known arachidonic acid binding sites of albumin. This can lead to formation of more free arachidonic acid. It is also observed that melamine does not bind with extracellular signal regulated kinase 2 (ERK2). Therefore, the signal transduction mediated process involving ERK2 is not a likely mechanism of melamine-induced inflammation. Therefore, we think that an increased free arachidonic acid level may contribute more to inflammation in the melamine exposure state.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Mullana, Ambala, India.
authors.forename: Meenakshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rajpoot
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Mullana, Ambala, India.
authors.forename: Rajasri
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bhattacharyya
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Medicine and Biotechnology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Dibyajyoti
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Mullana, Ambala, India.
authors.forename: Anil
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharma
mesh_terms: D016718:Arachidonic Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D001665:Binding Sites / Q000187:drug effects; D048049:Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000378:metabolism; D008958:Models, Molecular; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D014227:Triazines / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D012709:Serum Albumin; D014227:Triazines; D016718:Arachidonic Acid; D048049:Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases; C011907:melamine
keywords: ERK2; albumin; arachidonic acid; inflammation; melamine; nephropathy