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The oxidation of glucagon by the H2O2/Cu(2+) system and by simulated sunlight was studied using HPLC-MS methodologies. It was found that copper ion-catalyzed oxidation is much faster in the residue 1-12 region than in photo-oxidation, but it is slower than photo-oxidation in the residue 18-29 region. This difference is due to the unique feature of the primary sequence of glucagon. The residue 1-12 region contains His-1 and Asp-9 that can bind to Cu(2+) ions and catalyze the oxidation of His-1 and Tyr-10, while the residue 18-29 region lacks these charged residues near the liable Met-27 and Trp-25 and hence no catalysis by the neighboring groups occurs. Fragment (residue 13-17) was more stable than the other regions of the peptide toward photo-oxidation because it contains only one oxidizable residue, Tyr-13. These findings may help explain the mechanism of action of glucagon and provide some hints for the development of effective anti-diabetic drug molecules and stable glucagon formulations.
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