Fmoc-L-alanine Rink amide AM resin

In view of the important role arginine plays in living organisms as the free amino acid and, especially, as a residue in peptides and proteins, the homologous beta-homoarginines are central in our investigations of beta-peptides (Fig. 1). The preparation of beta2-homoarginine derivatives suitably protected for solution- or solid-phase peptide syntheses is described with full experimental detail (9 and 12 in Scheme 1). The readily available Fmoc-beta3 hArg(Boc)2-OH is used for manual solid-phase synthesis of beta3-oligoarginines (on Rink amide or Rink amide AM resin) either by single amino acid coupling (Scheme 3) or, much better, by dimer-fragment coupling (Scheme 4). In this way, beta3-oligoarginine amides composed of 4, 6, 7, 8, and 10 residues, both with and without fluorescein labelling, were synthesized (Schemes 2-4), purified by preparative HPLC and identified by high-resolution mass spectrometry. The free amino acids (R)- and (S)-H-beta2 hArg-OH and (S)-H-beta3 hArg-OH were tested for their ability to function as substrates for NO synthase (iNOS); the beta3-oligoarginine amides (5, 6, and 7 residues) were tested for antibacterial (against six pathogens) and hemolytic (against rat and human erythrocytes) activities. All test results were negative: none of the free beta-homoarginines induced NO formation (Fig. 3), and there was no lysis of erythrocytes (concentrations up to 100 microM; Table 1), and no significant antibiotic activity (MIC > or = 64 microg/ml; Table 2). Cell-penetration studies with the fluorescence-labelled, peptidase-resistant beta3-oligoarginine amides were carried out with HeLa cells and human foreskin keratinocytes (HFKs). The results obtained with fluorescence microscopy are: i) the longer-chain beta-oligoarginine amides (8 and 10 residues; Figs. 4-6) enter the cells and end up in the nuclei, especially in the nucleoli, irrespective of temperature (37 degrees and 4 degrees with HFKs) or pretreatment with NaN3 (with HFKs), indicating a non-endocytotic and non-energy-dependent uptake mechanism; ii) the beta-tetraarginine derivative occupies the cell surface but does not enter the cells (with HeLa); iii) the cell-growth rate of the HFKs is not affected by a 1-microM concentration of the fluorescence-labelled beta-octaarginine amide (Fig. 7), i.e., there is no antiproliferative effect. In vivo experiments with mouse skin and the beta-octaarginine derivative show migration of the beta-peptide throughout the epidermis (Fig. 8). As a contribution to understanding the mechanism, we have also studied the behavior of fluorescence-labelled beta-octa- and beta-decaarginine amides (TFA salts) towards giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) built of neutral (POPC) or anionic (POPC/POPG mixtures) phospholipids: the beta-oligoarginine amides bind tightly to the surface of anionic GUVs but do not penetrate the lipid bilayer (Fig. 9) as they do with living cells. In contrast, a beta-heptapeptide FL-22, which had been used as a negative control sample for the cell-penetration experiments, entered the GUVs of negative surface charge. Thus, the mechanisms of cell and GUV-model penetration appear to be different. Finally, the possible applications and implications of the 'protein transduction' by beta-oligoarginines are discussed.

Europium chelates conjugated with peptide ligands are routinely used as probes for conducting in vitro binding experiments. The presence of unchelated Eu ions in these formulations gives high background luminescence and can lead to poor results in binding assays. In our experience, the reported methods for purification of these probes do not achieve adequate removal of unchelated metal ions in a reliable manner. In this work, a xylenol orange-based assay for the quantification of unchelated metal ions was streamlined and used to determine levels of metal ion contamination as well as the success of metal ion removal on attempted purification. We compared the use of Empore chelating disks and Chelex 100 resin for the selective removal of unchelated Eu ions from several Eu-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid chelate-peptide conjugates. Both purification methods gave complete and selective removal of the contaminant metal ions. However, Empore chelating disks were found to give much higher recoveries of the probes under the conditions used. Related to the issue of probe recovery, we also describe a significantly more efficient method for the synthesis of one such probe using Rink amide AM resin in place of Tentagel S resin.

The ongoing search for effective treatment of Acne vulgaris is concentrated, i.a., on natural peptides with antimicrobial properties. The aim of this work was the development of new amino acid derivatives with potential activity on dermal infections against selected microorganisms, including the facultative anaerobe C. acne. The peptides P1-P6 were synthesized via Fmoc solid phase peptide synthesis using Rink amide AM resin, analyzed by RP-HPLC-MS, FTIR, DPPH radical scavenging activity, and evaluated against C. acne and S. aureus, both deposited and non-deposited in BC. Peptides P1-P6 presented a lack of cytotoxicity, antimicrobial activity, or antioxidative properties correlated with selected structural properties. P2 and P4-P6 sorption in BC resulted in variable data, i.a., confirming the prospective topical application of these peptides in a BC carrier.