Covalent interactions of acetaldehyde with the actin/microfilament system.

The covalent binding of [14C]acetaldehyde to purified rabbit skeletal muscle actin was characterized. As we have found for other cytoskeletal proteins, actin formed stable covalent adducts under reductive and non-reductive conditions. Under non-reductive conditions, individual and competition binding studies versus albumin both showed that the G-form of actin is more reactive toward acetaldehyde than the F-form. When proteins were compared on an 'equi-lysine' basis under non-reducing conditions, G-actin was found to preferentially compete with albumin for binding to acetaldehyde. Time-course dialysis studies indicated that acetaldehyde-actin adducts become more stable with prolonged incubation at 37 degrees C. These data raise the possibility that actin could be a preferential target for adduct formation in cellular systems and will serve as the basis for ongoing studies aimed at defining the role of acetaldehyde-protein adducts in ethanol-induced cell injury.