Complex formation of europium and curium with the digestive enzyme alpha-amylase

In case of the incorporation of radioactive heavy metal ions, they would represent a serious health risk to humans due to their chemo- and/or radiotoxicity. Trivalent actinides (An(III)) like Am(III) or Cm(III) are man-made radioactive elements exclusively generated in nuclear reactors, whilst non-radioactive lanthanides (Ln(III)) are naturally occurring elements having wide technological and medical applications. These heavy metals have a potential risk of intake into humans with different pathways. Since Ln(III) and An(III) are considered to have no significant essential function in the human body, little is known about their biochemical behaviour from the uptake, in-vivo transport to the final accumulation or excretion.
Our recent studies on the speciation of U(VI) and Cm(III) in body fluids (e.g., saliva) suggested α-amylase as a potential binding partner of these actinides, which would finally affect the biochemical behaviour of these elements in-vivo. The enzyme α-amylase is one of the major enzymes in salivary and pancreatic secretions of mammals and catalyses the hydrolysis of polysaccharides like starch or glycogen. In order to further understand the potential role of α-amylase in the in-vivo speciation and complexation of Ln(III) and An(III), we investigated the complexation of Eu(III) and Cm(III) with α-amylase over a wide pH range by using time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy (TRLFS). Based on the obtained spectroscopic results, stability constants were determined at ambient and physiological temperature. The data were further extrapolated to infinite dilution to make the obtained data compatible with the existing thermodynamic database. The speciation of Eu(III) and Cm(III) in the saliva studied were determined based on these new data and will be presented.