DL-Dithiothreitol

Description

DL-Dithiothreitol is redox reagent also known as Cleland's reagent, after W. Wallace Cleland. The reagent is commonly used in its racemic form.

Chemical Properties

DL-Dithiothreitol(DTT) is oxidized by air. So it is normally stored and handled under inert atmosphere to minimize oxidation. The rate of air-oxidation is slower at low temperatures. Oxidized DTT exhibits a strong absorbance peak at 280 nm. Since thiols are less nucleophilic than their conjugate bases, thiolates, DTT becomes a less potent nucleophile as the pH falls. DTT's half-life is 40 hours at pH 6.5 and 1.4 hours at pH 8.5 and 20 °C; its half-life decreases further as temperature increases. The presence of EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) to chelate divalent metal ions considerably extends the half-life of DTT in solution.

The Uses of DL-Dithiothreitol

DL-dithiothreitol (DTT) is a sulfhydryl compound that acts both as a reagent reducing disulfide bonds and as a protein denaturant on staphylococcal biofilm (Wu et al. 2011). Thanks to these properties, DTT is routinely used in clinical microbiology to liquefy respiratory specimens, but it has also been proven effective to detach biofilm from orthopaedic prosthesis (Drago et al. 2012, 2013). Since it is crucial to discriminate implant-related infections from aseptic loosening in orthopaedics, and because of the difficulty to diagnose subclinical infections, a prompt diagnosis of indwelling device-related infection is important for successful treatments (Borens et al. 2013). A fast microbiological diagnosis and bacterial identification should be recommended in order to set up a specific antimicrobial therapy. According to this strategy, the bacterial detachment from biofilm on explants should be accelerated by supporting the pathogen viability.