Trichosanthin can spontaneously penetrate phospholipid monolayer under acid condition

Tianhuafen is a kind of traditional Chinese medicine for abortion, which has long been used in China. The basic protein trichosanthin (TCS) is responsible for such activity. As a ribosome inactivating protein (RIP), trichosanthin removes A4304 in the 28s rRNA via the N-glycosidase activity and inactivates the ribosome. However, it remains unclear how TCS can enter the cytoplasm. In the experiment, monolayers at air/water interface have been used to study the interaction between TCS and phospholipid membrane. The results show that TCS can penetrate negatively charged phospholipid monolayer under acid condition, and its membrane penetrating ability is obviously pH-dependent. A hypothesis of TCS penetrating biological membrane under acid condition is proposed based on the obtained result.