The Influence of the API Properties on the ODTs Manufacturing from Co-processed Excipient Systems

Directly compressible co-processed excipient systems facilitate orodispersible tablets (ODTs) manufacturing. Despite several excipient systems available, it is reported that the incorporation of high drug dose into the tablet mass may negatively affect both disintegration and mechanical properties. Therefore the influence of drug properties on the quality of orodispersible tablets was investigated. Fast dissolving tablet matrix was made of a co-processed excipient system F-Melt. Two grades of F-Melt that differed in composition, particle shape, and specific surface area were used to form tablet matrix. Ibuprofen, diclofenac sodium, and diltiazem hydrochloride were chosen as model drugs of different physicochemical properties such as solubility, particle size, and shape. Ninety formulations containing 12.5, 25, or 50 wt% of the model drug and F-Melt type C or M were prepared by direct compression. The quality of tablets was examined on the base of disintegration time, wetting time, mechanical resistance and texture analysis. The results showed that F-Melt grade, drug solubility, and its dose had an influence on the quality of tablets. From ninety formulations prepared, only four batches containing F-Melt type C and 12.5 wt% of ibuprofen, diclofenac sodium, or diltiazem hydrochloride could be classified as ODTs. Their disintegration time ranged from 41 to 144 s. In the case of F-Melt type M, tablets disintegrating within 101 s of friability below 1% could be prepared only if 12.5 wt% of diclofenac sodium was incorporated into the tablet mass.Key words: diclofenac sodium, diltiazem hydrochloride, direct compression, F-Melt, ibuprofen, ODTs     

Purification and Characterization of a Novel Mannitol Dehydrogenase from a Newly Isolated Strain of Candida magnoliae

Mannitol biosynthesis in Candida magnoliae HH-01 (KCCM-10252), a yeast strain that is currently used for the industrial production of mannitol, is catalyzed by mannitol dehydrogenase (MDH) (EC 1.1.1.138). In this study, NAD(P)H-dependent MDH was purified to homogeneity from C. magnoliae HH-01 by ion-exchange chromatography, hydrophobic interaction chromatography, and affinity chromatography. The relative molecular masses of C. magnoliae MDH, as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and size-exclusion chromatography, were 35 and 142 kDa, respectively, indicating that the enzyme is a tetramer. This enzyme catalyzed both fructose reduction and mannitol oxidation. The pH and temperature optima for fructose reduction and mannitol oxidation were 7.5 and 37°C and 10.0 and 40°C, respectively. C. magnoliae MDH showed high substrate specificity and high catalytic efficiency (k_cat = 823 s⁻¹, K_m = 28.0 mM, and k_cat/K_m = 29.4 mM⁻¹ s⁻¹) for fructose, which may explain the high mannitol production observed in this strain. Initial velocity and product inhibition studies suggest that the reaction proceeds via a sequential ordered Bi Bi mechanism, and C. magnoliae MDH is specific for transferring the 4-pro-S hydrogen of NADPH, which is typical of a short-chain dehydrogenase reductase (SDR). The internal amino acid sequences of C. magnoliae MDH showed a significant homology with SDRs from various sources, indicating that the C. magnoliae MDH is an NAD(P)H-dependent tetrameric SDR. Although MDHs have been purified and characterized from several other sources, C. magnoliae MDH is distinguished from other MDHs by its high substrate specificity and catalytic efficiency for fructose only, which makes C. magnoliae MDH the ideal choice for industrial applications, including enzymatic synthesis of mannitol and salt-tolerant plants.     

Effect of Explosion on the Crystalline Polymorphism of Chitin and Chitosan

For identification of how explosion increases the reactivity of chitin and chitosan, changes in the crystalline polymorphism of these polysaccharides were studied by X-ray diffraction measurements. The α-chitin form of chitin did not change after being exploded, but an X-ray diagram of chitosan showed a hydrated crystal of low crystallinity before the explosion, and increased crystallinity of the hydrated form plus a small amount of an anhydrous crystal after the explosion. The improvement of accessibility to both polysaccharides caused by the explosion seemed not to arise from changes in their crystalline polymorphism or crystallinity     

一种新型单链抗体血栓导向显像剂的制备和部分性质研究

 利用对血栓部位活化血小板α 颗粒膜蛋白GMP 140有亲和特异性的单克隆抗体SZ5 1的血栓部位导向作用 ,并利用金属硫蛋白的高金属结合能力 ,在基因工程水平构建分子量适中的单链抗体血栓导向显像剂 .1分子单抗SZ5 1单链抗体 (ScFv SZ5 1)与 1分子小鼠金属硫蛋白 (MT Ⅰ )cDNA的重组基因拼接产物 ,在大肠杆菌菌株BL2 1(DE3)pLysS中进行发酵表达 ,重组蛋白HLMT表达量为 4 0mg L发酵液 .该重组蛋白以包涵体形式存在于菌体中 .通过一种有效的包涵体制备方法可获得目的蛋白含量为 84 %的包涵体沉淀 .在优化的条件进行了包涵体的变复性 ,复性液先后经过Q SepharoseFF阴离子交换层析和SephadexG 5 0凝胶过滤层析进行纯化 .SDS PAGE鉴定了重组蛋白纯度达 95 %以上 .HPLC进一步证明了最终纯化产品的均一性 .质谱测定HLMT分子量为 384 31 3,与理论值基本相符 .等电聚焦电泳测定pI为 3 0 .Western印迹结果表明 ,HLMT中单链抗体部分具有与活化血小板α 颗粒膜蛋白GMP 140结合特异性 .原子吸收分光光度计法 (AAS)证明 ,HLMT中金属硫蛋白保持了原金属结合活性 .重组蛋白HLMT可以进一步进行核素标记实验和动物体内血栓显像实验     

Analysis of the Hyperthermophilic Chitinase from Pyrococcus furiosus: Activity toward Crystalline Chitin

Chitinase [EC 3.2.1.14] is an enzyme that can hydrolyze the β-1,4 linkage between N-acetyl-D-glucosamine in chitin. In the genome database of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus, we found two adjacent genes (PF1233 and PF1234) homologous to those of the chitinase of Thermococcus kodakaraensis. In the cultured medium of P. furiosus, however, no chitinase activity was detected. On analysis of the structural gene of P. furiosus, it appears that one nucleotide insertion in PF1234 caused a frame shift and separated a gene. By deletion of one nucleotide in PF1234, the best match was achieved between chitinases of T. kodakaraenesis and P. furiosus. We succeeded in constructing an artificial recombinant chitinase exhibiting hydrolytic activity toward not only colloidal but also crystalline chitins at high temperature. Furthermore, by analyzing the characteristics of the domains, a recombinant enzyme comprising two domains exhibiting high activity toward crystalline chitin was prepared.     

Preparation,Characterization, and In Vitro Cytotoxicity Evaluation of a Novel Anti-Tuberculosis Reconstruction Implant

Background

Reconstruction materials currently used in clinical for osteoarticular tuberculosis (TB) are unsatisfactory due to a variety of reasons. Rifampicin (RFP) is a well-known and highly effective first-line anti-tuberculosis (anti-TB) drug. Poly-DL-lactide (PDLLA) and nano-hydroxyapatite (nHA) are two promising materials that have been used both for orthopedic reconstruction and as carriers for drug release. In this study we report the development of a novel anti-TB implant for osteoarticular TB reconstruction using a combination of RFP, PDLLA and nHA.

Methods

RFP, PDLLA and nHA were used as starting materials to produce a novel anti-TB activity implant by the solvent evaporation method. After manufacture, the implant was characterized and its biodegradation and drug release profile were tested. The in vitro cytotoxicity of the implant was also evaluated in pre-osteoblast MC3T3-E1 cells using multiple methodologies.

Results

A RFP/PDLLA/nHA composite was successfully synthesized using the solvent evaporation method. The composite has a loose and porous structure with evenly distributed pores. The production process was steady and no chemical reaction occurred as proved by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). Meanwhile, the composite blocks degraded and released drug for at least 12 weeks. Evaluation of in vitro cytotoxicity in MC3T3-E1 cells verified that the synthesized composite blocks did not affect cell growth and proliferation.

Conclusion

It is feasible to manufacture a novel bioactive anti-TB RFP/PDLLA/nHA composite by the solvent evaporation method. The composite blocks showed appropriate properties such as degradation, drug release and biosafety to MC3T3-E1 cells. In conclusion, the novel composite blocks may have great potential for clinical applications in repairing bone defects caused by osteoarticular TB.     

Purification and Characterization of Extracellular Chitin Deacetylase from Colletotrichum lindemuthianum

Chitin deacetylase, active in the presence of acetate (96% of the enzymatic activity was retained in the presence of 100 mm sodium acetate), was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity from a culture filtrate of Colletotrichum lindemuthianum (944-fold with a recovery of 4.05%). The enzyme was induced in the medium after the eighth day of incubation simultaneously with the blackening of the medium. The molecular mass of the enzyme was 31.5 kDa and 33 kDa as judged by SDS–PAGE and gel filtration, respectively, suggesting that the enzyme is a single polypeptide. The optimum temperature was 60°C and the optimum pH was 11.5–12.0 when glycol chitin was used as substrate. The enzyme was active toward glycol chitin, partially N-deacetylated water soluble chitin, and chitin oligomers the degrees of polymerization of which were more than four, but was less active with chitin trimer and dimer, and inactive with N-acetylglucosamine. The K_m and k_cat for glycol chitin were 2.55 mm and 27.1s^?1, respectively, and those for chitin pentamer were 414 μm and 83.2s^?1, respectively. The reaction rates of the enzyme toward glycol chitin and chitin oligomers seemed to follow the Michaelis–Menten kinetics.     

Chitin Accelerates Activation of a Novel Haloarchaeal Serine Protease That Deproteinizes Chitin-Containing Biomass

The haloarchaeon Natrinema sp. strain J7-2 has the ability to degrade chitin, and its genome harbors a chitin metabolism-related gene cluster that contains a halolysin gene, sptC. The sptC gene encodes a precursor composed of a signal peptide, an N-terminal propeptide consisting of a core domain (N*) and a linker peptide, a subtilisin-like catalytic domain, a polycystic kidney disease domain (PkdD), and a chitin-binding domain (ChBD). Here we report that the autocatalytic maturation of SptC is initiated by cis-processing of N* to yield an autoprocessed complex (N*-I^WT), followed by trans-processing/degradation of the linker peptide, the ChBD, and N*. The resulting mature form (M^WT) containing the catalytic domain and the PkdD showed optimum azocaseinolytic activity at 3 to 3.5 M NaCl, demonstrating salt-dependent stability. Deletion analysis revealed that the PkdD did not confer extra stability on the enzyme but did contribute to enzymatic activity. The ChBD exhibited salt-dependent chitin-binding capacity and mediated the binding of N*-I^WT to chitin. ChBD-mediated chitin binding enhances SptC maturation by promoting activation of the autoprocessed complex. Our results also demonstrate that SptC is capable of removing proteins from shrimp shell powder (SSP) at high salt concentrations. Interestingly, N*-I^WT released soluble peptides from SSP faster than did M^WT. Most likely, ChBD-mediated binding of the autoprocessed complex to chitin in SSP not only accelerates enzyme activation but also facilitates the deproteinization process by increasing the local protease concentration around the substrate. By virtue of these properties, SptC is highly attractive for use in preparation of chitin from chitin-containing biomass.     

新型共聚物淀粉接技聚乳酸的制备及其表征

采用原位熔融共聚法,以淀粉和乳酸为原料,制备改性淀粉聚乳酸接枝共聚物,对共聚反应机理进行初步探讨.结果表明,淀粉经PEG-400和马来酸酐增塑改性处理反应活性增强,与乳酸反应生成的淀粉聚乳酸接枝共聚物分子量Mw为6.921×10~4,Mn为4.789×10~4,分子量分布Mw/Mn为1.445.共聚物在PBS缓冲溶液中进行降解测试,结果为6天后质量损失一半.     

新型核心蛋白聚糖靶向性重组腺相关病毒的制备与鉴定

核心蛋白聚糖(decorin, DCN)是广泛存在于细胞基质中的一种富含亮氨酸的蛋白多糖, 属于蛋白聚糖家族中的小分子类. DCN可作为多种细胞因子的配体, 发挥多种生物学功能. DCN在一些肿瘤组织中高水平表达,调控恶性肿瘤的生长和迁移. 腺相关病毒(AAV)是肿瘤基因治疗中常用的基因工程载体, 利用重组技术可以实现对病毒衣壳蛋白的改造, 使其感染具有靶向性. 而针对DCN高表达细胞的转导可能成为肿瘤基因治疗应用中定向导入治疗基因的有效策略. 本研究在对多种DCN结合蛋白序列保守区的分析基础上, 筛选出具有较高活性的DCN结合功能域(DB1), 并将其融合至AAV衣壳蛋白VP2编码序列的N端; 继而利用AAV的嵌合包装技术, 成功制备了衣壳展示DB1表位的重组AAV. 在过表达DCN细胞的感染实验中, 该病毒表现出针对DCN较强的靶向性. 本研究所制备的DCN靶向性腺相关病毒不仅为肿瘤治疗的应用提供了一种新型载体, 同时可作为一类特殊的基因导入工具为研究DCN在肿瘤发生发展中的作用提供帮助.     

Evaluation of Citrus Fibers as a Tablet Excipient

The consumption of fibers is associated with many health benefits, such as a reduction of cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases, control of body weight, and prevention of diabetes. Despite the widespread use of fiber supplements such as capsules or tablets, there is an almost complete lack of information concerning the technological properties of functional fibers used in nutraceutical formulations. The aim of this work was to characterize the technological properties of citrus fibers necessary for their use as a processing aid in tableting. The results obtained showed that citrus fibers share many properties of other polysaccharides used as tableting excipients, such as thermal behavior and compaction mechanism, together with an appreciable tabletability. However, the most interesting properties resulted from their disintegration power. Citrus fibers behaved in a similar manner to the well-known super disintegrant croscarmellose sodium and resulted to be little susceptible to their concentration, to lubricant type, and lubricant concentration. Thus, this work supports the idea of a potential use of citrus fibers as “active” substances and processing aid in the tableting of nutraceutical products and also as functional excipient in pharmaceutical tablets formulation.     

Isoiation and Characterization of Vicia FABA Lectin Affinity Purified on Chitin Column

Abstract

A lectin from early long pod var. of Vicia faba seed has been purified to homogeneity on chitin. The purified lectin is shown to be homogeneous in nature by Bio Gel P - 150 gel filtration, fast protein liquid chromatography and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The lectin is a glycoprotein with molecular weight of 51,000. The lectin molecule is possibly composed of two types of subunits devoid of any covalent linking through sulfhydryl groups, with molecular weights 9,000 and 15,000 respectively in the ratio 2:2. The purified lectin shows a high affinity for N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc).

Amino acid analyses show that cysteine and methionine are absent, and a high proportion of aspartic acid and glutamic acid are present in the protein molecule. The extinction coefficient of the purified lectin is 7.22. The lectin behaves as a, cold agglutinin displaying stronger agglutination than the naturally occurring ABO agglutinin in the cold.     

Maltodextrin: A Novel Excipient Used in Sugar-Based Orally Disintegrating Tablets and Phase Transition Process

The recent challenge in orally disintegrating tablets (ODT) manufacturing encompasses the compromise between instantaneous disintegration, sufficient hardness, and standard processing equipment. The current investigation constitutes one attempt to fulfill this challenge. Maltodextrin, in the present work, was utilized as a novel excipient to prepare ODT of meclizine. Tablets were prepared by both direct compression and wet granulation techniques. The effect of maltodextrin concentrations on ODT characteristics—manifested as hardness and disintegration time—was studied. The effect of conditioning (40°C and 75% relative humidity) as a post-compression treatment on ODT characteristics was also assessed. Furthermore, maltodextrin-pronounced hardening effect was investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray analysis. Results revealed that in both techniques, rapid disintegration (30–40 s) would be achieved on the cost of tablet hardness (about 1 kg). Post-compression conditioning of tablets resulted in an increase in hardness (3 kg), while keeping rapid disintegration (30–40 s) according to guidance of the FDA for ODT. However, direct compression-conditioning technique exhibited drawbacks of long conditioning time and appearance of the so-called patch effect. These problems were, yet, absent in wet granulation-conditioning technique. DSC and X-ray analysis suggested involvement of glass-elastic deformation in maltodextrin hardening effect. High-performance liquid chromatography analysis of meclizine ODT suggested no degradation of the drug by the applied conditions of temperature and humidity. Overall results proposed that maltodextrin is a promising saccharide for production of ODT with accepted hardness-disintegration time compromise, utilizing standard processing equipment and phenomena of phase transition.     

Enzymatic Preparation of Crystalline Laminaribiose from Curdlan

The enzymatic preparation of laminaribiose was investigated in this research. When curdlan was hydrolyzed with the β-1,3-glucanase system of Streptomyces sp. K27-4, the hydrolyzate mainly consisted of glucose and laminaribiose in an approximate ratio of 1:1 by weight. Yeast strains selected in this study, effectively and selectively metabolized all of the glucose in the hydrolyzate, without any degradation of laminaribiose.

By successive treatment of curdlan with the glucanase system and glucose-metabolizable yeast, 31 g of crystalline laminaribiose was obtained from l00g of curdlan.     

一种新的肝细胞生成素（HPO）转录本及其生物学活性

利用 5′RACE技术从人胎肝组织中分离一种新形式的肝细胞生成素 (HPO 2 0 5 )cDNA ,其编码蛋白质氨基酸序列的N端较已报道的人肝细胞生成素HPO(hepatopoietin)多 80个氨基酸 ,推测其蛋白质分子量为 2 3kD。RT PCR检测HPOmRNA在多种肝癌细胞中表达 ,Western印迹可检测到 2 3kDHPO 2 0 5表达 ,表明此种形式HPO在自然状态下存在。将构建的HPO 2 0 5真核表达载体转染入COS 7细胞 ,其表达蛋白质能够刺激HepG2肝癌细胞DNA合成 ;将HPO 2 0 5、HPO和荷空表达载体分别转染入低水平表达HPO的Bel 740 2肝癌细胞株 ,发现HPO 2 0 5比HPO具有较强的激活MAPK磷酸化的活性。细胞周期分析稳定转染HPO 2 0 5 ,HPO细胞的增殖周期也支持这一结论。这些结果表明HPO 2 0 5具有刺激肝源性细胞增殖的活性 ,并提示HPO 2 0 5可能较HPO有更强的生物学活性     

Molecular Cloning and Characterization of a Novel Retinoblastoma-Binding Protein

We describe the isolation and characterization of a novel cDNA encoding a polypeptide that interacts in a yeast two-hybrid system as well as in mammalian cells with the retinoblastoma (RB) protein. This new protein, which we call Rim, consists of 897 amino acids, has two leucine zipper motifs, and has a LECEE sequence previously identified as an RB-binding domain. Rim also has an E1A/CtBP-binding motif and four putative nuclear localization signals.RimmRNA is expressed ubiquitously at low levels in all human adult tissues tested and at much higher levels in several tumor cell lines. TheRimgene (HGMW-approved symbol RBBP8) is localized on human chromosome 18q11.2.     

新型生长抑素原核表达质粒的构建及表达鉴定

将生长抑素(SS)与乙肝表面抗原(S)融合基因插入平衡致死系统原核表达质粒pYA3493中, 转化至缺失asd基因的减毒猪霍乱沙门氏菌C500, 经酶切、测序筛选得到非抗性的目的克隆, 命名为pYA-SS。应用SDS-PAGE和Western blotting 技术分离并检测融合蛋白在宿主菌中的表达活性。结果表明, 本试验构建的非抗性筛选生长抑素原核表达质粒可以在宿主菌C500中稳定、正确表达。此研究为开发新型、高效、安全的促生长疫苗提供了可靠的研究材料。     

Characterization of a Chitin Synthase Encoding Gene and Effect of Diflubenzuron in Soybean Aphid, Aphis Glycines

Chitin synthases are critical enzymes for synthesis of chitin and thus for subsequent growth and development in insects. We identified the cDNA of chitin synthase gene (CHS) in Aphis glycines, the soybean aphid, which is a serious pest of soybean. The full-length cDNA of CHS in A. glycines (AyCHS) was 5802 bp long with an open reading frame of 4704 bp that encoded for a 1567 amino acid residues protein. The predicted AyCHS protein had a molecular mass of 180.05 kDa and its amino acid sequence contained all the signature motifs (EDR, QRRRW and TWGTR) of chitin synthases. The quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) analysis revealed that AyCHS was expressed in all major tissues (gut, fat body and integument); however, it had the highest expression in integument (~3.5 fold compared to gut). Interestingly, the expression of AyCHS in developing embryos was nearly 7 fold higher compared to adult integument, which probably is a reflection of embryonic molts in hemimetabolus insects. Expression analysis in different developmental stages of A. glycines revealed a consistent AyCHS expression in all stages. Further, through leaf dip bioassay, we tested the effect of diflubenzuron (DFB, Dimilin ®), a chitin-synthesis inhibitor, on A. glycines'' survival, fecundity and body weight. When fed with soybean leaves previously dipped in 50 ppm DFB solution, A. glycines nymphs suffered significantly higher mortality compared to control. A. glycines nymphs feeding on diflubenzuron treated leaves showed a slightly enhanced expression (1.67 fold) of AyCHS compared to nymphs on untreated leaves. We discussed the potential applications of the current study to develop novel management strategies using chitin-synthesis inhibitors and using RNAi by knocking down AyCHS expression.     

Identification and Characterization of a Novel Staphylococcal Emetic Toxin

Staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) produced by Staphylococcus aureus have superantigenic and emetic activities, which cause toxic shock syndrome and staphylococcal food poisoning, respectively. Our previous study demonstrated that the sequence of SET has a low level of similarity to the sequences of other SEs and exhibits atypical bioactivities. Hence, we further explored whether there is an additional SET-related gene in S. aureus strains. One SET-like gene was found in the genome of S. aureus isolates that originated from a case of food poisoning, a human nasal swab, and a case of bovine mastitis. The deduced amino acid sequence of the SET-like gene showed 32% identity with the amino acid sequence of SET. The SET-like gene product was designated SElY. In the food poisoning and nasal swab isolates, mRNA encoding SElY was highly expressed in the early log phase of cultivation, whereas a high level of expression of this mRNA was found in the bovine mastitis isolate at the early stationary phase. To estimate whether SElY has both superantigenic and emetic activities, recombinant SElY was prepared. Cell proliferation and cytokine production were examined to assess the superantigenic activity of SElY. SElY exhibited superantigenic activity in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells but not in mouse splenocytes. In addition, SElY exhibited emetic activity in house musk shrews after intraperitoneal and oral administration. However, the stability of SElY against heating and pepsin and trypsin digestion was different from that of SET and SEA. From these results, we identified SElY to be a novel staphylococcal emetic toxin.