Investigation of the Interaction Between Ofloxacin and Bovine Serum Albumin: Spectroscopic Approach

Ofloxacin is an antibacterial compound that belongs to the fluoroquinolone family. In this paper, the interaction between ofloxacin and bovine serum albumin (BSA) was investigated by fluorescence spectroscopy and UV-Vis absorbtion spectroscopy under approximately the human physiological conditions. The thermodynamic parameters were calculated according to the dependence of enthalpy change on the temperature as follows: ΔH has a small negative value (−9.96 kJ⋅mol⁻¹), whereas ΔS has a positive value (54.77 J⋅mol⁻¹⋅K⁻¹). In this work, it was proved that the fluorescence quenching of BSA by ofloxacin is a result of the formation of an ofloxacin–BSA complex. Binding studies concerning the number of binding sites (n=1.14) and apparent binding constant were performed by Scatchard’s procedure. The binding distance r between donor (BSA) and acceptor (ofloxacin) was obtained according to the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) method.