title: Effect of nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots on the fibrillation of hen egg-white lysozyme.
abstract: In this study, the fibrillation of hen egg-white lysozyme (HEWL) in the absence and presence of different amount of nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) was studied by Thioflavin T (ThT) spectroscopy, Congo red (CR) binding assays, 8-anilino-1-naphthalenesulfonic acid (ANS) fluorescence assay, circular dichroism (CD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The experimental results indicated that not only the fibrillation of HEWL at high temperature (65°C) and low pH (pH=2.0) could be inhibited effectively by N-GQDs, but the inhibition of HEWL by N-GQDs followed a dose-dependent manner. The results of this work suggested that the N-GQDs had a great potential for designing new therapeutic agents and were promising for future treatment of amyloid-related diseases.
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China.
authors.forename: Hua-Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China. Electronic address: yangran@zzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Ran
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China.
authors.forename: Ling-Bo
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Qu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006108:Graphite / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009113:Muramidase / Q000737:chemistry*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry*; D055503:Protein Multimerization / Q000187:drug effects*; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D045663:Quantum Dots / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D006108:Graphite; C421864:hen egg lysozyme; D009113:Muramidase; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Amyloid fibril; Hen egg-white lysozyme; Inhibition; Nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots