Daunomycin binding to detergent micelles: a model system for evaluating the hydrophobic contribution to drug-DNA...

The interaction of daunomycin with sodium dodecyl sulfate and Triton X-100 micelles was investigated as a model for the hydrophobic contribution to the free energy of DNA intercalation reactions. Measurements of visible absorbance, fluorescence lifetime, steady-state fluorescence emission intensity, and fluorescence anisotropy indicate that the anthraquinone ring partitions into the hydrophobic micelle interior. Fluorescence quenching experiments using both steady-state and lifetime measurements demonstrate reduced accessibility of daunomycin in sodium dodecyl sulfate micelles to the anionic quencher iodide and to the neutral quencher acrylamide. Quenching of daunomycin fluorescence by iodide in Triton X-100 micelles was similar to that seen with free daunomycin. Studies of the energetics of the interaction of daunomycin with micelles by fluorescence and absorbance titration methods and by isothermal titration calorimetry in the presence of excess micelles revealed that association with sodium dodecyl sulfate and Triton X-100 micelles is driven by a large negative enthalpy. Association of the drug with both types of micelles also has a favorable entropic contribution, which is larger in magnitude for Triton X-100 micelles than for sodium dodecyl sulfate micelles. The thermodynamic profile for the interaction of daunomycin with both types of micelles is characteristic of the "nonclassical" hydrophobic effect. The enthalpy for the interaction of daunomycin with sodium dodecyl sulfate micelles increases nonlinearly with temperature, indicating a positive (and temperature dependent) heat capacity change. The binding isotherm for daunomycin association with sodium dodecyl sulfate micelles was cooperative, with a Hill coefficient of 1.6. The cooperative behavior and the positive heat capacity change suggest that the drug alters micelle size or imposes order on the hydrocarbon interior of the micelle.