Proteomic method detects oxidatively induced protein carbonyls in muscles of a diabetes model Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rat.

Oxidative stress is implicated in a broad variety of chronic and acute diseases, including such age-related diseases as diabetes. To understand at the protein level cellular damage caused by the stress, we developed a proteomic method, in which protein carbonyls were derivatized with biotin hydrazide followed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. The method, being capable of analyzing high-molecular-mass proteins as large as myosin heavy chains (molecular mass approximately 200 kDa), was applied to detecting protein carbonyls in muscles of a diabetes model Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rat and a control Long-Evans Tokushima Otsuka (LETO) rat. A number of proteins, including mitochondrial ATP synthase beta-chain, desmin, actin, and myosin, were found carbonylated. Our method would provide a means toward clarifying a comprehensive view of oxidative modifications of proteins during a long progression of age-related diseases and understanding the mechanism of the onset, progression, and complication of the diseases.