Direct assessment of water exchange on a Gd(III) chelate bound to a protein

 The Gd(III) complex of 4-pentylbicyclo[2.2.2]octane-1-carboxyl-di-l-aspartyl-lysine-derived DTPA, [GdL(H2O)]2–, binds to serum albumin in vivo, through hydrophobic interaction. A variable temperature 17O NMR, EPR, and Nuclear Magnetic Relaxation Dispersion (NMRD) study resulted in a water exchange rate of k298ex=4.2×106 s–1, and let us conclude that the GdL complex is identical to [Gd(DTPA)(H2O)]2– in respect to water exchange and electronic relaxation. The effect of albumin binding on the water exchange rate has been directly evaluated by 17O NMR. Contrary to expectations, the water exchange rate on GdL does not decrease considerably when bound to bovine serum albumin (BSA); the lowest limit can be given as kex, GdL-BSA=kex, GdL / 2. In the knowledge of the water exchange rate for the BSA-bound GdL complex, the analysis of its NMRD profile at 35  °C yielded a rotational correlation time of 1.0 ns, one order of magnitude shorter than that of the whole protein. This value is supported by the longitudinal 17O relaxation rates. This indicates a remarkable internal flexibility, probably due to the relatively large distance between the protein- and metal-binding moieties of the ligand.