Catalytic damage of bovine serum albumin by metronidazole under ultrasonic irradiation in the presence of nano-sized TiO2 powder

In previous work, it was found that the bovine serum albumin (BSA) could obviously be damaged by nano-sized TiO₂ powder as a sonocatalyst under ultrasonic irradiation. In this work, metronidazole (MTZ) was adopted as a sensitizer to intensify the damage of BSA molecules. It was found that the damage degree of BSA molecules in the presence of MTZ was more serious than in the absence of MTZ. That is, under ultrasonic irradiation combined with nano-sized TiO₂ powder, the addition of MTZ could remarkably aggravate the damage to BSA molecules. Meanwhile, the damage degree was also affected by some influence factors, such as ultrasonic irradiation time, ultrasonic irradiation power, MTZ concentration, solution acidity, ionic strength and solution temperature. In addition, the damage site of BSA molecules was also estimated by synchronous fluorescence spectra. It was found that the damage site of BSA molecules was mainly at tyrosine (Tyr) residue.