Hesperidin interaction to collagen detected by physico-chemical techniques.

OBJECTIVE: Dentin collagen can be modified by some plant-derived flavonoids to improve properties of dentin organic matrix. Hesperidin (HPN), a hesperetin-7-O-rutinoside flavonoid, has a potential of dentin modification for being based on evidence that a treatment with HPN may resist collagenase degradation and arrest demineralization of human dentin. In this study, biophysical and molecular-level information on the interaction of HPN and collagen was investigated.

METHODS: HPN is extracted from citrus fruits. Sample collagenous solution was prepared using atelocollagen (ATCL) as a triple-helical peptide model. We have performed circular dichroism spectroscopic analysis, sedimentation velocity measurement by ultracentrifuge and saturation transfer difference measurement (STD) by NMR on HPN-collagen in solution state.

RESULTS: The circular dichroism and sedimentation velocity measurement showed the evidence for the molecular interaction between ATCL and HPN, while HPN did not induce any conformational change of ATCL. The STD-NMR study further confirmed this interaction and suggested that HPN interacted with ATCL through its aromatic part, not through its disaccharide moiety.

SIGNIFICANCE: These findings indicated that HPN is weakly bound to ATCL not causing structural modification of collagen. This interaction may contribute to the preservation of collagen by protecting from collagenase degradation.