THE CORTICOSTATIC EFFECT OF HUMAN LACTOFERRIN DEPENDS ON THE AMINO ACID COMPOSITION OF THE N-TERMINUS OF THE MOLECULE
The effect of various structural variants of human lactoferrin on stress-induced changes in the corticosterone level in the blood in rats was studied. A model of combined emotional and physical stress - swimming in cold water (1-4 °C) for 2 minutes. The level of corticosterone in plasma was determined by enzyme immunoassay. We have previously found that preventive intraperitoneal administration of native lactoferrin reduces the stress-induced increase in corticosterone concentration in the blood of rats 30 minutes after stress. This work shows that transgenic human lactoferrin, which lacks four arginine residues at the N-terminus, does not have this effect. The obtained results allow us to conclude about the key role of N-terminal amino acid residues in the implementation of the corticostatic activity of lactoferrin.