Inhibition of bovine serum albumin fibril formation in sodium cholate solutions

Protein destabilization, misfolding and subsequent self-association into amyloid fibrils is associated with neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s diseases, etc. Many attempts were made to find effective inhibitors of fibril formation. In present study, we used natural surfactant, sodium cholate, widely used in pharmacology, to inhibit the fibril formation in BSA model system. From ThT assay we have determined that sodium cholate slows down fibril formation by 10 times. The intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence revealed the stabilizing effect of sodium cholate on the BSA thermal denaturation. FTIR-spectroscopy indicated that sodium cholate causes structural changes in BSA secondary structure which prevent fibril formation. The results of present study can recommend sodium cholate as potential therapeutic agent against neurodegenerative diseases.