Interaction of 4-ethyl phenyl sulfate with bovine serum albumin: Experimental and molecular docking studies

4-ethyl phenyl sulfate (EPS), a protein-bound uremic toxin found in serum of patients suffering from autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). As per recent advances in the field, gut metabolites after their formation goes to blood stream crosses blood brain barrier and causes neuro related problems. Increased levels of 4-EPS in human body causes anxiety in patients and its role remains elusive. 4-EPS interacts with serum albumin in human body and thus, a model study of interaction of BSA with 4-EPS is presented in support of it. Absorption spectroscopy result demonstrated decrease in bovine serum albumin (BSA) absorption upon interaction with increasing concentration of EPS in a range from 2 µM to 100 µM. Moreover, this interaction was confirmed by the fluorescence quenching in presence of metabolite. The change in secondary structure was demonstrated by circular dichroism, synchronous fluorescence and Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy. Docking studies reveals binding score of −5.28 Kcal mol−1, demarking that 4-EPS is involved in interaction with BSA via amino acid residues, forming the stable complex. This interaction study may be helpful in devising strategies for the treatment of chronic kidney disease and other neuro related diseases, by producing synthetic compound that competes with albumin binding sites to allow 4-EPS clearance from the body.