The Kinetics of Peroxynitrite on Insulin Nitration Damage

Abstract Background: Insulin is one of the most important versatile hormones that is central to regulating the energy and glucose metabolism in the body. There has been accumulating evidence supporting that diabetes was associated with peroxynitrite and protein nitration, and insulin nitration induced by peroxynitrite affected its biological activity. Methods: In this paper, the kinetics of insulin nitration by peroxynitrite in physiological conditions was studied by the stopped flow technique. Results: We determined the values of the reactive rate constants of peroxynitrite decomposition and peroxynitrite-induced tyrosine nitration in the presence of insulin. The activation energy of peroxynitrite decomposition and 3-nitrotyrosine yield in the presence of insulin is 48.8 kJ·mol−1 and 42.7 kJ·mol−1 respectively. Conclusions: It is inferred that the glutamate residue of insulin accelerated peroxynitrite decomposition and tyrosine nitration by reducing the activation energy of reactions. The results could be beneficial for exploring the molecular mechanism of diabetes and offering a new target for diabetes therapies.