Browsing by Subject "titaanioksidi"

Protein phosphorylation is an important mechanism in cell signaling. Normally, one third of all proteins in a living organism is phosphorylated every moment. Abnormal amount of phosphorylated proteins is associated with many diseases. Proteins can also be oxidized in a living organism by reactive oxygen species. Usually oxidized proteins are degraded quickly in cells. Increased oxidation and decreased capability to degrade oxidized proteins can cause accumulation of these species in tissues. This has also been associated with several diseases and aging. Titanium dioxide is a widely used catalyst in photocatalytic reactions. When titanium dioxide absorbs UV radiation, hydroxyl radicals and superoxide anions are formed in aqueous solution. These radicals can then react with other compounds and degrade them. The most important factors affecting titanium dioxide photocatalysis are concentration and type of titanium dioxide catalyst, initial concentration of the substrate and pH. The purpose of this work was to investigate the effect of phosphorylation on degradation and oxidation of peptides in titanium dioxide photocatalysis. Since titanium dioxide columns have been used to enrich phosphopeptides, the adsorbtion of phosphorylated and unphoshorylated peptides on titanium dioxide is known to be different. Possibly this has also an effect on reaction products in photocatalysis. Peptides investigated were a non-phosphorylated, a monophosphorylated and a triply phosphorylated insulin receptor peptide. Samples were analyzed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS). First, the effect of pH on the degradation of the peptides was studied. Acidic conditions decreased the degradation of the non-phosphorylated peptide. Degradation of the phosphorylated peptides was significant in all pH conditions studied. In alkaline conditions all of the investigated peptides were degraded efficiently so these conditions were chosen for further experiments. Degradation of all three peptides was very fast in titanium dioxide photocatalysis. Peptides were degraded significantly already after 0.5 minutes UV exposure. The non-phosphorylated and monophosphorylated peptide produced mainly once (M+O) and doubly (M+2O) oxidized products. Oxidation products of the triply phosphorylated peptide were not detected. Oxidation sites could not be identified since the products were formed in such a small concentrations. Reproducibility was also poor in this study. Further studies are needed to find out, if phosphorylation has effect on oxidation of peptides. In the future, the reaction conditions and the analytical method need to be optimized.