Molecular Characterization and Structure Analysis of Hprt in a Chinese Patient with Lesch-Nyhan Disease

Lesch-Nyhan disease (LND) is caused by deficiency of hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT). The aim of the present study is to characterize the molecular deficiency of a clinical diagnosed Chinese patient with attenuated variant of LND. The coding region and the intron-exon boundaries of HPRT1 gene were sequenced by standard methods, and HPRT activity was assayed by HPLC method. Structure analysis was performed to estimate the consequence of the mutant of HPRT1 gene. A new mutation c.245T>G (p.Ile82Ser) was identified in this patient, and heterozygous mutation was found in the patient's mother. The activity of HPRT in the patient was completely undetectable. Structure study indicates that the mutation of p.Ile82Ser may lead to loss of hydrophobic side chain and disrupt its normal conformation of HPRT protein. It is helpful for diagnosis of LND that sequencing analysis of HPRT1 gene is performed in male infant and juvenile with hyperuricaemia and neurologic dysfunction in Chinese.     

The cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 has two distinct beta-carotene ketolases: CrtO for echinenone and CrtW for ketomyxol synthesis

Two beta-carotene ketolases, CrtW and CrtO, are widely distributed in bacteria, although they show no significant sequence homology with each other. The cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 was found to have two homologous genes. In the crtW deleted mutant, myxol 2'-fucoside was present, but ketomyxol 2'-fucoside was absent. In the crtO deleted mutant, beta-carotene was accumulated, and the amount of echinenone was decreased. Therefore, CrtW catalyzed myxol 2'-fucoside to ketomyxol 2'-fucoside, and CrtO catalyzed beta-carotene to echinenone. This cyanobacterium was the first species found to have both enzymes, which functioned in two distinct biosynthetic pathways.     

Blood group A glycolipid (Ax) with globo-series structure which is specific for blood group A1 erythrocytes: one of the chemical bases for A1 and A2 distinction

A new blood group A-active glycolipid fraction, termed Ax, showing a chromatographic mobility between Aa and Ab was found in blood group A1 erythrocytes but not in A2 erythrocytes. Ax was identified by its conversion to "globo H" by alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminidase and by 1H-NMR spectroscopy as GalNAc alpha l----3[Fuc alpha l----2]Gal beta l----3GalNAc beta l----3Gal alpha l----4Gal beta l----4Glc beta l----lCer. Globo-H (Fuc alpha l----2Gal beta l----3GalNac beta l----3Gal alpha l----4Gal beta l----4Glc beta l----lCer) was found in blood group A, and O but not in A1 erythrocytes. Thus, one of the A1-specific determinants must be an A determinant carried by globo-series structure.     

反义寡核苷酸药物癌泰得的定性分析方法研究

 癌泰得 (ACTCACTCAGGCCTCAGACT)为端粒酶表达抑制活性反义寡核苷酸 .为了探讨其定性检测手段 ,通过阴离子交换高效液相色谱和毛细管凝胶电泳分析方法 ,确定了该硫代寡核苷酸以及与其有关的短序列和部分未被硫代类似物的保留时间 ,并分析了不同混合物样品 .结果表明 ,阴离子交换高效液相色谱对硫代寡核苷酸骨架上的差异非常敏感 ,可很好地分离长度相同的硫代和未完全硫代类似物 ,并且随未被硫代磷酸基数目增加 ,保留时间依次缩短 .阴离子交换高效液相色谱对硫代寡核苷酸的长度不敏感 ,不能分离相差一个碱基的硫代寡核苷酸 .毛细管凝胶电泳可很好地分离长度相差一个碱基的硫代寡核苷酸 ,不能分离同长硫代和部分硫代寡核苷酸 .高效液相色谱结合毛细管凝胶电泳可有效地确定癌泰得的纯度和修饰程度 .     

Synthesis and in vitro bioactivity of C-terminal deleted analogs of human growth hormone-releasing factor

A series of C-terminal deleted analogs of human growth hormone-releasing factor (hGRF) with either an amidated or a free carboxylic acid C-terminus were synthesized by solid phase methodology. Their capacity to release growth hormone was tested on rat anterior pituitary cells in monolayer culture. A gradual decrease of bioactivity down to 23% relative to hGRF was noted when the C-terminal amino acids were deleted to hGRF (1-34)OH. Further deletions, however, did not decrease the bioactivity because the potencies of the fragments, hGRF(1-31)NH2, (1-30)NH2 and (1-29)NH2 remained at about 50% of that of hGRF. Continual deletion of residues to hGRF(1-23)NH2, (1-22)NH2 and (1-21)NH2 still yielded bioactive fragments with full intrinsic activity despite very low potency. Only with the deletion down to hGRF(1-19)NH2 did the bioactivity completely disappear. Thus, together with the data published in a previous paper (1), the minimal biologically active core of hGRF with full intrinsic activity comprises the fragment (3-21).     

A scalable organoid model of human autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease for disease mechanism and drug discovery

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西洋参不同部位皂苷类成分的指纹图谱研究

以西洋参（Panax quinquefolium L.）为材料,分别取主根、须根、芦头、参皮、参芯、茎、叶、花序、果实和芽孢等不同部位为材料,以高效液相法检测其皂苷类成分。利用系统聚类分析法和中药色谱指纹图谱相似度评价系统对各部位的皂苷种类和含量进行分析,将西洋参的不同部位按照成分组成进行了分类。     

Differential distribution of molecular forms of cholecystokinin in human and porcine small intestinal mucosa

To examine the distribution of cholecystokinins (CCKs) along the small intestine we examined the nature of CCKs in samples of jejunum, mid-intestine and ileum from human and porcine intestine. CCKs in intestinal mucosa were extracted by boiling in both neutral and acid conditions, and subjected to high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) to separate the forms of CCK followed by radioimmunoassay of separate fractions.In neutral extracts of human intestine CCK immunoreactivity totalled 119.4, 22.9 and <1 ng/g in jejunum, mid-intestine and ileum, whilst in acid extracts the corresponding values were 65.3, 47.4 and <1 ng/g. Amounts of CCK extracted from porcine mucosa were of similar magnitude. In neutral extracts material co-chromatographing on HPLC with synthetic porcine CCK 8 predominated, whilst in acid extracts material co-chromatographing with CCKs $\text{33}\text{39}$ was the major form. These forms of human and porcine CCKs extracted from the mucosa behaved similarly to CCK 8 and CCK $\text{33}\text{39}$ standards on HPLC, in the radioimmunoassay and on molecular exclusion chromatography — suggesting marked similarity of the CCKs in the two species. In both species there was a marked change in the ratios of CCK 8: CCK $\text{33}\text{39}$ down the intestine from 1 : 0.8 in human jejunum to 1 : 5.6 in mid-intestine and from 1 : 1.5 in porcine jejunum to 1 : 5.8 in mid-intestine. These observations may explain the changing patterns of CCKs in circulation with time after ingestion of a fat meal and the greater impairment of CCK 8 than CCK $\text{33}\text{39}$ release observed in coeliac disease.     

A sensitive and specific LC-MS/MS method for rapid diagnosis of Niemann-Pick C1 disease from human plasma

Niemann-Pick type C1 (NPC1) disease is a rare, progressively fatal neurodegenerative disease for which there are no FDA-approved therapies. A major barrier to developing new therapies for this disorder has been the lack of a sensitive and noninvasive diagnostic test. Recently, we demonstrated that two cholesterol oxidation products, specifically cholestane-3β,5α,6β-triol (3β,5α,6β-triol) and 7-ketocholesterol (7-KC), were markedly increased in the plasma of human NPC1 subjects, suggesting a role for these oxysterols in diagnosis of NPC1 disease and evaluation of therapeutics in clinical trials. In the present study, we describe the development of a sensitive and specific LC-MS/MS method for quantifying 3β,5α,6β-triol and 7-KC human plasma after derivatization with N,N-dimethylglycine. We show that dimethylglycine derivatization successfully enhanced the ionization and fragmentation of 3β,5α,6β-triol and 7-KC for mass spectrometric detection of the oxysterol species in human plasma. The oxysterol dimethylglycinates were resolved with high sensitivity and selectivity, and enabled accurate quantification of 3β,5α,6β-triol and 7-KC concentrations in human plasma. The LC-MS/MS assay was able to discriminate with high sensitivity and specificity between control and NPC1 subjects, and offers for the first time a noninvasive, rapid, and highly sensitive method for diagnosis of NPC1 disease.     

灵芝麦角硫因高通量检测方法研究

麦角硫因(ergothioneine,EGT)基于其强抗氧化及体内消耗率低的特点,在人体内拥有多种重要的生理功能。但是在高产EGT微生物筛选和新菌株的选育研究中,现有的EGT检测方法因其步骤繁琐、使用的试剂和设备昂贵而亟待改进。本研究基于EGT的理化性质,建立了EGT-硫氰酸铁高通量快速检测体系,同时选用不同EGT产量的灵芝菌株以及灵芝融合新菌株对该检测体系的准确性进行验证。结果表明该方法可以快速准确地比较出样本间EGT产量高低,使原本需3~4天的工作缩短至2~3 h,HPLC验证结果显示,EGT-硫氰酸铁高通量快速检测体系效果良好,体系稳定。本研究结果将为高产EGT微生物的高通量筛选及高产EGT新菌株的选育提供新的方法和思路。     

Resonance Rayleigh scattering technique as a detection method for the RP‐HPLC determination of local anaesthetics in human urine

A highly selective and sensitive method of reversed phase high‐performance liquid chromatography (RP‐HPLC) coupled with resonance Rayleigh scattering (RRS) was developed for the determination of procaine, bupivacaine and tetracaine. Separation of three local anaesthetics was achieved at 35 °C on a C₁₈ column. The mobile phase was 30: 70 (v/v) acetonitrile/triethylamine–phosphoric acid buffer (pH 2.9) at flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. The RRS detection was conducted by taking advantage of the strong RRS enhancement of the local anaesthetics with erythrosine reaction in an acidic medium. Under optimum conditions, the limit of detection (S/N = 3) values were in the range of 2.4–11.2 ng/mL. Recoveries from spiked human urine samples were 95.8%–104.5%. The proposed method applied to the determination of local anaesthetics in human urine achieved satisfactory results. In addition, the mechanism of the reaction is fully discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation of the chiral recognition properties and the column performances of three chiral stationary phases based on cellulose for the enantioseparation of six dihydropyridines by high‐performance liquid chromatography

Separations of six dihydropyridine enantiomers on three commercially available cellulose‐based chiral stationary phases (Chiralcel OD‐RH, Chiralpak IB, and Chiralpak IC) were evaluated with high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The best enantioseparation of the six chiral drugs was obtained with a Chiralpak IC (250 × 4.6 mm i.d., 5 μm) column. Then the influence of the mobile phase including an alcohol‐modifying agent and alkaline additive on the enantioseparation were investigated and optimized. The optimal mobile phase conditions and maximum resolution for every analyte were as follows respectively: n‐hexane/isopropanol (85:15, v /v) for nimodipine (R  = 5.80) and cinildilpine (R  = 5.65); n‐hexane/isopropanol (92:8, v /v) for nicardipine (R  = 1.76) and nisoldipine (R  = 1.92); and n‐hexane/isopropanol/ethanol (97:2:1, v /v/v) for felodipine (R  = 1.84) and lercanidipine (R  = 1.47). Relative separation mechanisms are discussed based on the separation results, and indicate that the achiral parts in the analytes' structure showed an important influence on the separation of the chiral column.     

Comparison of Spectrophotometric,Fluorometric and High Performance Liquid Chromatography Methods for Determination of Chlorophyll a in Aquatic Samples: Effects of Solvent and Extraction Procedures

Chlorophyll a determinations were made on lakewater and algal samples by spectrophotometric, fluorometric and high performance liquid chromatographic methods. Acetone, methanol and ethanol solvents were evaluated for their ability to extract photosynthetic pigments from Scenedesmus sp. cultures. Routinely used methods overestimated the chlorophyll a concentrations present in the samples. Significant differences resulted when various standard equations were used to calculate chlorophyll a concentrations. Acetone did not quantitatively extract chlorophyll pigments, even after 24 h. Mechanical disruption was found to be important in assuring complete extraction of the chlorophyll pigments.     

Biosynthesis and secretion of salusin-alpha from human cells

Salusins originally identified using bioinformatics analyses have been shown to act on the cardiovascular and endocrine systems. Although the hypotensive activity of salusin-alpha is limited, it exerts a significant anti-atherosclerotic effect via suppression of foam cell formation in human monocyte-derived macrophages by down-regulating acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase-1. Furthermore, serum salusin-alpha levels show a close negative correlation with the severity of atherosclerotic diseases. However, biosynthesis and secretion of salusin-alpha peptide from cultured mammalian cells have not been demonstrated to date. We examined the expression, synthesis and release of salusin-alpha in human-derived cell lines. Preprosalusin mRNA and protein were detected ubiquitously in all cells tested, whereas the processing of preprosalusin into salusin-alpha peptide is dependent upon each cell type. Immunohistochemical study revealed the most abundant salusin-alpha-like immunoreactivity to be present in HeLa cells which released salusin-alpha-like immunoreactivity into the culture supernatant. Analysis of extracted conditioned media from HeLa cells by reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography coupled with radioimmunoassay detection revealed a single immunoreactive component that co-eluted with authentic salusin-alpha. These results present the first evidence that salusin-alpha is biosynthesized and released from human-derived cells.     

Development of an LC‐MS method for simultaneous quantitation of amentoflavone and biapigenin,the minor and major biflavones from Hypericum perforatum L., in human plasma and its application to real blood

Introduction – Biflavones of Hypericum perforatum L. are bioactive compounds used in the treatment of inflammation and depression. Determination of amentoflavone and biapigenin from blood is challenging owing to their similar structures and low concentrations. Objective – To develop a rapid, sensitive and accurate method based on liquid‐phase extraction followed by high‐performance liquid chromatography and electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (HPLC‐ESI‐MS) for quantification of biflavones in human plasma. Methodology – After extraction from blood, the analytes were subjected to HPLC with an XTerra® MS C₁₈ column and a binary mobile phase consisting of 2% formic acid in water and acetonitrile under isocratic elution conditions, with ESI‐MS detection in the negative ion mode and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). Results – Both calibration curves showed good linearity within the concentration range 1–500 ng/mL. Limits of detection (S/N = 3) were 0.1 ng for pure substances and the limits of quantitation (S/N = 5) were 1.0 ng/mL from analyte‐spiked serum. The grand mean recovery was 90% from several subsamples of each biflavone. The imprecision (RSD) of peak areas was between 5% (intraday) and 10% (interday) for high concentrations (250 ng/mL) and between 10% (intraday) and 15% (interday) for low concentrations (1 ng/mL). Inaccuracy of the mean was less than 20% at the lower limit of quantitation. Conclusion – The developed and validated method for determination of biflavones from human plasma was effectively applied to pharmacokinetic studies of 13 probands and preliminary results indicate biphasic concentration–time curves. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparison between cellulose and amylose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) chiral stationary phases for enantiomeric separation of 17 amidotetralins

Direct enantiomeric separations of 17 chiral amidotetralins by means of high performance liquid chromatography were performed on stationary phases composed of tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) derivatives of cellulose and amylose, coated on silica gel. The enantiomers of 15 out of 17 amidotetralins were resolved with a resolution of more than 1.5 by at least one of the chiral stationary phases. The stationary phases showed complementary results with regard to the separation of the amidotetralins, that is, pairs that did not separate on the cellulose-type column were well separated on the amylose-type column, and vice versa. There was no significant correlation between the chromatographic properties of the chiral stationary phases. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Atypical human liver alcohol dehydrogenase: the beta 2-Bern subunit has an amino acid exchange that is identical to the one in the beta 2-Oriental chain

The "atypical' human liver alcohol dehydrogenase dimer, homogeneous for beta 2-Bern chains, was isolated from human liver of Caucasian individuals. It is derived from an allelic variant at the ADH2 gene locus and exhibits a considerably higher specific activity and lower pH optimum than its "typical' counterpart (isoenzyme beta 1 beta 1) from the beta 1-chain predominant in Caucasians. Peptides were prepared by trypsin or CNBr cleavage, and were purified by exclusion chromatography and reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). Structural analysis of the peptides showed that beta 2-Bern differs at one position from beta 1. Thus, Arg-47 in beta 1 is substituted by His in beta 2-Bern. This exchange, compatible with a one-base mutation, explains all functional differences by altered interactions with the pyrophosphate moiety of the coenzyme. The difference is also structurally identical to that found for another atypical beta 2-subunit, the beta 2-Oriental type of major Asian occurrence, linking these two atypical forms of human alcohol dehydrogenase.     

Induced pluripotent stem cells from hair follicles as a cellular model for neurodevelopmental disorders

Disease-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) allow unprecedented experimental platforms for basic research as well as high-throughput screening. This may be particularly relevant for neuropsychiatric disorders, in which the affected neuronal cells are not accessible. Keratinocytes isolated from hair follicles are an ideal source of patients' cells for reprogramming, due to their non-invasive accessibility and their common neuroectodermal origin with neurons, which can be important for potential epigenetic memory. From a small number of plucked human hair follicles obtained from two healthy donors we reprogrammed keratinocytes to pluripotent iPSC. We further differentiated these hair follicle-derived iPSC to neural progenitors, forebrain neurons and functional dopaminergic neurons.This study shows that human hair follicle-derived iPSC can be differentiated into various neural lineages, suggesting this experimental system as a promising in vitro model to study normal and pathological neural developments, avoiding the invasiveness of commonly used skin biopsies.