Differential-scanning-calorimetric study of the irreversible thermal denaturation of 8 kDa cytotoxin from the sea anemone Radianthus macrodactylus.

A differential-scanning-calorimetric study of the thermal denaturation of a sea-anemone (Radianthus macrodactylus) 8 kDa cytolytic toxin was carried out. The calorimetric traces were found to be irreversible and scan-rate-dependent under the experimental conditions employed. Scan-rate-dependent thermograms were explained in terms of a two-state kinetic model N k -->D, where k is a first-order kinetic constant that changes with temperature as given by the Arrhenius equation, N is the native state of the toxin, and D the denatured one.