DNA thermal denaturation was evaluated as a measure of the effect of antitumor drug actinomycin D on the stability of the double helix and also the effect of SDS micelles on actinomycin D - DNA complexes. The results indicated that the melting temperature of DNA was dependent on drug concentration, increasing with actinomycin D concentration. High thermal stabilization (about 10 °C) of the DNA helix after the association with actinomycin D clearly demonstrates the intercalative binding mode. The presence of SDS micelles leads to the release of intercalated actinomcyin D molecules from DNA double helix and their further relocation in surfactant micelles. These results highlighted that the drug release can be controlled in time and by varying the concentration and nature of surfactant.
Keywords: DNA; actinomycin D; micelles; thermal denaturation.