Evidence for covalent binding of acyl glucuronides to serum albumin via an imine mechanism as revealed by tandem mass spectrometry.

Acyl glucuronide metabolites of bilirubin and many drugs can react with serum albumin in vivo to form covalent adducts. Such adducts may be responsible for some toxic effects of carboxylic nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agents. The mechanism of formation of the adducts and their chemical structures are unknown. In this paper we describe the use of tandem mass spectrometry to locate binding sites and elucidate the binding mechanism involved in the formation of covalent adducts from tolmetin glucuronide and albumin in vitro. Human serum albumin and excess tolmetin glucuronide were coincubated in the presence of sodium cyanoborohydride to trap imine intermediates. The total protein product was reduced, carboxymethylated, and digested with trypsin. Six tolmetin-containing peptides (indicated by absorbance at 313 nm) were isolated by high-pressure liquid chromatography and analyzed by liquid secondary-ion mass spectrometry and collision-induced dissociation, using a four-sector tandem mass spectrometer. All six peptides contained tolmetin linked covalently via a glucuronic acid to protein lysine groups. Major attachment sites on the protein were Lys-195, -199, and -525; minor sites were identified as Lys-137, -351, and -541. Our results show unambiguously that the glucuronic acid moiety of acyl glucuronides can be retained within the structure when these reactive metabolites bind covalently to proteins, and they suggest that acyl migration followed by Schiff base (imine) formation is a credible mechanism for the generation of covalent adducts in vivo.