engleski

Crystallization of some bromo-derivatives of bovine insulin

Insulin is a polypeptide hormone produced by the  -cells in the pancreas. Insulin is a viable hormone in the human body because it controls level of glucose in the bloodstream. When glucose enters the blood, the pancreas should automatically produce the right amount of insulin to move glucose into our cells. The cells produce the energy from glucose that they need to carry out their functions. Without insulin, person can eat indefinite amount of food, and actually be in a state of starvation, since many of our cells cannot access the calories contained in the glucose without the action of insulin. This is why Type 1 diabetics, who’ s bodies cannot produce insulin can be in very bad condition without insulin shots. The hormone insulin is a protein consisting of two polypeptide chains referred to as the A chain and B chain. A and B chains are linked together by two disulfide bonds, and an additional disulfide is formed within the A chain. The A chain consists of 21 amino acids and the B chain of 30 amino acids. The crystal structure of T6 bovine insulin was described by Smith et al in 2005.1 This work presents the crystallization of iodo-, bromo-, molybdenum(VI), copper(II) and vanadium(IV) derivates of bovine insulin. Crystals were grown by the hanging drop vapour diffusion crystallisation method originally established by Cutfield.2 The crystallization conditions which were the most effective will be discused.

insulin; crystallization

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