Binding properties and structural changes of human growth hormone upon interaction with cobalt ion

Binding properties and structural changes of human growth hormone (hGH) due to the interaction by cobalt ion (Co²⁺) were done at 27°C in NaCl solution, 50 mM, using different techniques of UV-Vis spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD), isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques. There is a set of three identical and non-interacting binding sites for cobalt ions. The intrinsic association equilibrium constant and the molar enthalpy of binding obtained by ITC are 0.80 mM⁻¹ and −16.70 kJ mol⁻¹, respectively. The intrinsic association equilibrium constant obtained by a standard isothermal titration UV-Vis spectrophotometry method is also 0.79 mM⁻¹, which is in good agreement with the value obtained from ITC. The Gibbs free energy and entropy changes due to the binding of cobalt ion on hGH are −16.67 kJ mol⁻¹ and −0.1 J K⁻¹ mol⁻¹, respectively. Energetic domains analysis by DSC shows that phase transition of hGH in the presence of cobalt occurs at one main transition. Deconvolution of the main transition provides two sub-transitions with different values of the melting point and enthalpy of unfolding (33°C and 164 kJ mol⁻¹ for the first and 49°C and 177 kJ mol⁻¹ for the second, respectively). Interaction of cobalt ions with hGH prevents aggregation by an affect on the hydrophobicity of the protein macromolecule and provide useful information about its structure due to becoming reversible of protein thermal denaturation.