Interactions between oxaprozin glucuronide and human serum albumin

1. The first step in the interaction between oxaprozin glucuronide and human serum albumin (HSA) is formation of a reversible complex which then leads to the following reactions; (a) acyl migration of the aglycone from position 1 to positions 2, 3 and 4 of the glucuronic acid moiety; (b) hydrolysis of the glycosidic bond; and (c) covalent binding of oxaprozin to the HSA molecule. The isomers of oxaprozin glucuronide formed in (a) and the covalently bonded drug in (c) are also hydrolyzed to oxaprozin. 2. Oxaprozin and ligands known to bind at Site II as classified by Sudlow et al. (1976), also called the benzodiazepine binding site (Müller and Wollert 1975), inhibit these reactions with oxaprozin glucuronide, while ligands which are known to bind at other sites on HSA do not. 3. Modification of a single tyrosine residue, located within Site II, with tetranitromethane, diisopropylfluorophosphate, and p-nitrophenylacetate causes significant reduction of the covalent binding of oxaprozin to HSA. 4. Tetranitromethane modification of HSA decreases all three reactions, while not inhibiting the formation of the reversible complex, indicating that the tyrosine located in Site II (tyr-411)acts as the nucleophile in these reactions. 5. Chemical modification of lysine residues has only a small effect on the reactions while modification of the lone free sulphhydryl (cys) in HSA has no effect.