Study on the toxic interaction of methanol, ethanol and propanol against the bovine hemoglobin (BHb) on molecular level.

The toxic interaction of methanol, ethanol and propanol with bovine hemoglobin (BHb) at protein molecular level was studied by resonance light scattering (RLS), fluorescence, ultraviolet-visible absorption (UV-vis) and circular dichroism (CD) techniques. The experimental results showed that the three alcohols all had toxic effects on BHb and the effects increased along with the increasing alcohol dose. The results of RLS and fluorescence spectroscopy showed that alcohols can denature BHb. They changed the microenvironment of amino acid residues and led to molecular aggregation. The decreasing order of the influence is propanol, ethanol and methanol. The results of UV-vis and CD spectra revealed that alcohols led to conformational changes of BHb, including the loosening of the skeleton structure and the decreasing of α-helix in the second structure. The changes generated by propanol were much larger than those by methanol and ethanol.