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Organophosphate esters (OPEs), a major group of organophosphorus flame retardants, are regarded as emerging environmental contaminants of health concern. Amino acid decarboxylases catalyze the conversion of amino acids into polyamines that are essential for cell proliferation, hypertrophy and tissue growth. In this paper, inhibitory effect of twelve OPEs with aromatic, alkyl or chlorinated alkyl substituents on the activity of lysine decarboxylase (LDC) was assessed quantitatively with an economic and label-free fluorescence sensor and cell assay. The sensor comprises a macrocyclic host (cucurbit[7]uril) and a fluorescent dye (acridine orange) reporter. The twelve OPEs were found to vary in their capacity to inhibit LDC activity. Alkyl group substituted OPEs had no inhibitory effect. By contrast, six OPEs substituted with aromatic or chlorinated alkyl groups inhibited LDC activity significantly with IC 50 ranging from 1.32 μM to 9.07 μM. Among them, the inhibitory effect of tri- m -cresyl phosphate (TCrP) was even more effective as an inhibitor than guanosine 5′-diphosphate-3′-diphosphate (ppGpp) (1.60 μM), an LDC natural inhibitor in vivo . Moreover, at non-cytotoxic concentrations, these six OPEs showed perceptible inhibitory effects on LDC activity in PC12 living cells, and led to a marked loss in the cadaverine content. Molecular docking analysis of the LDC/OPE complexes revealed that different binding modes contribute to the difference in their inhibitory effect. Our finding suggested that LDC, as a new potential biological target of OPEs, might be implicated in toxicological and pathogenic mechanism of OPEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) have been shown to bind with hepatic peroxisome proliferator receptor α, estrogen receptors and human serum albumin and subsequently cause some toxic effects. Lysine decarboxylase (LDC) plays an important role in cell growth and developmental processes. In this study, the inhibitory effect of 16 PFAAs, including 13 perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs) and 3 perfluorinated sulfonic acids (PFSAs), on lysine decarboxylase (LDC) activity was investigated. The inhibition constants obtained in fluorescence enzyme assays fall in the range of 2.960 μM to 290.8 μM for targeted PFCAs, and 41.22 μM to 67.44 μM for targeted PFSAs. The inhibitory effect of PFCAs increased significantly with carbon chain (7–18 carbons), whereas the short chain PFCAs (less than 7 carbons) did not show any effect. Circular dichroism results showed that PFAA binding induced significant protein secondary structural changes. Molecular docking revealed that the inhibitory effect could be rationalized well by the cleft binding mode as well as the size, substituent group and hydrophobic characteristics of the PFAAs. At non-cytotoxic concentrations, three selected PFAAs inhibited LDC activity in HepG2 cells, and subsequently resulted in the decreased cadaverine level in the exposed cells, suggesting that LDC may be a possible target of PFAAs for their in vivo toxic effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]