A simple and sensitive HPLC–ESI-MS/MS method for the determination of andrographolide in human plasma

A liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC–ESI-MS/MS) method for the determination of andrographolide in human plasma was established. Dehydroandrographolide was used as the internal standard (I.S.). The plasma samples were deproteinized with methanol and separated on a Hanbon C₁₈ column with a mobile phase of methanol–water (70:30, v/v). HPLC–ESI-MS/MS was performed in the selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode using target ions at [M?H₂O–H]^?, m/z 331.1 for andrographolide and [M?H]^?, m/z 331.1 for the I.S. Calibration curve was linear over the range of 1.0–150.0 ng/mL. The chromatographic separation was achieved in less than 6.5 min. The lower limits of quantification (LLOQ) was 1.0 ng/mL. The intra and inter-run precisions were less than 6.95 and 7.22%, respectively. The method was successfully applied to determine the plasma concentrations of andrographolide in Chinese volunteers.     

A high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometric method for the determination of pharmacokinetics of ganaxolone in rat,monkey, dog and human plasma

A method for determining concentration levels of ganaxolone in rat, monkey, dog and human plasma was validated in the range of 5–1500 ng/ml using a 200-μl plasma sample volume. This validation report describes the linearity, specificity, sensitivity, reproducibility, accuracy, recovery and stability of the analytical method. The inter-day C.V. ranged from 0.5 to 9.2%, intra-day C.V. from 0.7 to 8.8% and intra-day accuracy (mean absolute percentage difference) ranged from 0.0 to 14.0% for rat, monkey, dog and human plasma. The method was used for the routine analysis of ganaxolone in rat, monkey, dog and human plasma and summary of the pharmacokinetic data are presented.     

Simple,sensitive and rapid HPLC–MS/MS method for the determination of cepharanthine in human plasma

A rapid, sensitive and specific method for the determination of cepharanthine in human plasma using high performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS/MS) was described. Cepharanthine and the internal standard (I.S.), telmisartan, were extracted from human plasma by methanol to precipitate the protein. A centrifuged upper layer was then evaporated and reconstituted with 100 μL methanol. Chromatographic separation was performed on an AGILENT XDB-C₈ column (150 mm × 2.1 mm, 5.0 μm, Agilent, USA) using a gradient mobile phase with 1 mmol/L ammonium acetate in water with 0.05% formic acid and methanol. Detection and quantitation was performed by MS/MS using electrospray ionization (ESI) and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) in the positive ion mode. The most intense [M+H]⁺ MRM transition of cepharanthine at m/z 607.3 → 365.3 was used for quantitation and the transition at m/z 515.5 → 276.4 was used to monitor telmisartan. The calibration curve was linear within the concentration range of 0.5–200.0 ng/mL (r = 0.9994). The limit of quantification (LOQ) was 0.5 ng/mL. The extraction recovery was above 81.1%. The accuracy was higher than 92.3%. The intra- and inter-day precisions were less than 9.66%. The method was accurate, sensitive and simple and was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study after single intravenous administration of 50 mg cepharanthine in 12 healthy Chinese volunteers.     

A quantitative HPLC–MS method for the simultaneous determination of testosterone, 11-ketotestosterone and 11-β hydroxyandrostenedione in fish serum

A simple and novel HPLC–MS method for the simultaneous quantification of testosterone, 11-ketotestosterone, and 11β-hydroxyandrostenedione in fish serum was developed and validated. Separation was achieved on a C-18 column using a water–acetonitrile mobile-phase with a cycle time of 12 min. Ion detection was performed using ESI positive SIM at [M+H] (m/z 303, 303, 289). The linear ranges (0.2–50 ng/ml), limits of detection (0.1–0.2 ng/ml) and quantification (0.2–0.5 ng/ml) were established. The method was validated by measuring the three androgens in goldfish sera, displaying comparable values to those reported by other analytical techniques (RIA, EIA).     

LC–MS/MS method development and validation for the determination of polymyxins and vancomycin in rat plasma

Simple, sensitive and robust liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometer (LC–MS/MS) methods were developed and validated for the determination of lipopeptide polymyxins and glycopeptide vancomycin in rat plasma. The effect of trichloroacetic acid (TCA) concentration on sample recoveries (peak area of sample recovered from plasma/peak area of sample from neat solvent solutions) was studied and an optimized concentration of 30% TCA were determined that gives the best sample recovery for the peptides from rat plasma. The effect of the TCA concentration on the chromatographic behavior of peptides was studied on a Phenomenex Jupiter C18 5 μ 300 Å 50 mm × 2 mm column using a mobile phase with a pH of 2.8. Other than protein precipitation, TCA also acted as ion pairing reagent and was only present in the samples but not in the mobile phases. The data demonstrated that by increasing the TCA concentration, the analyte retention and sensitivity were improved. The absence of TCA in mobile phase helped to reduce the ion source contamination and to achieve good reproducibility. The plasma method was linearly calibrated from 5 to 5000 ng/mL for polymyxins with precisions to be of 2.3–10.8%, and accuracies to be 91.7–107.4% for polymyxin B1, B2, E1, E2, respectively. For vancomycin the calibration is from 1 to 5000 ng/mL with precisions to be of 7.8–10.3 and accuracies to be 96.2–102.0%. The LLOQs corresponding with a coefficient of variation less than 20% were 7.5, 18.1, 7.3, 5.0 and 1.0 ng/mL for polymyxin B1, B2, E1, E2 and vancomycin, respectively.     

A modified version of the digestion–ligation cloning method for more efficient molecular cloning

Here we describe a modified version of the digestion–ligation approach for efficient molecular cloning. In comparison with the original method, the modified method has the additional steps of gel purification and a second ligation after the first ligation of the linearized vector and DNA insert. During this process, the efficiency and reproducibility could be significantly improved for both stick-end cloning and blunt-end cloning. As an improvement of the very important molecular cloning technique, this method may find a wide range of applications in bioscience and biotechnology.     

A green and effective method for the determination of metalaxyl enantiomers in tobacco and soil by supercritical fluid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

We reported a new methodology for the stereoselective determination of metalaxyl enantiomers in tobacco and soil. The QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe) method was used for the extraction and clean-up of the tobacco and soil samples. Separation of the metalaxyl enantiomers was performed on an ACQUITY UPC2 Trefoil CEL1 chiral column coupled with supercritical fluid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (SFC-MS/MS), and the run time was only 5 minutes. Under the optimized conditions, the recoveries for the enantiomers were between 78.2% and 93.3% with intraday relative standard deviations (RSDs) ranging from 1.1% to 5.4%. The limit of detection (LOD) for the enantiomers in tobacco and soil varied from 0.005 to 0.007 mg/kg, and the limit of quantitation (LOQ) ranged from 0.017 to 0.020 mg/kg. In this method, only a small amount of methanol was consumed to obtain a rapid stereoselective separation. This proposed method showed good accuracy and precision and might be suitable for fast enantioselective determination of metalaxyl in food and environmental samples. The developed method was further validated by application to the analysis of authentic samples.     

Systems for the detection and analysis of protein–protein interactions

The analysis of protein–protein interactions is important for developing a better understanding of the functional annotations of proteins that are involved in various biochemical reactions in vivo. The discovery that a protein with an unknown function binds to a protein with a known function could provide a significant clue to the cellular pathway concerning the unknown protein. Therefore, information on protein–protein interactions obtained by the comprehensive analysis of all gene products is available for the construction of interactive networks consisting of individual protein–protein interactions, which, in turn, permit elaborate biological phenomena to be understood. Systems for detecting protein–protein interactions in vitro and in vivo have been developed, and have been modified to compensate for limitations. Using these novel approaches, comprehensive and reliable information on protein–protein interactions can be determined. Systems that permit this to be achieved are described in this review.K. Kuroda, M. Kato and J. Mima contributed equally to this work.     

UHPLC method for the simultaneous determination of β-blockers, isoflavones and their metabolites in human urine

A rapid-resolution ultra high-performance liquid chromatography separation method (UHPLC) for the simultaneous determination of the following β-blockers: milrinone, sotalol, metoprolol, propranolol and carvedilol, and their metabolites: 5′-hydroxylphenyl-carvedilol, O-desmethylcarvedilol, 4-hydroxypropranolol, α-hydroxy-metoprolol, O-desmethyl-metoprolol; the following isoflavones: genistein, daidzein, glycitin, glycitein, puerarin and biochanin A; as well as their metabolites: dihydrogenistein, desmethylglycitein, 8-hydroxygenistein, daidzein-7,4′-diglucoside, 8-hydroxydaidzein, dihydrobiochanin A in human urine was optimized. The analysed compounds were extracted from human urine by means of solid phase extraction (SPE). The effective UHPLC separation of the examined compounds was applied on a Hypersil GOLD? (50 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.9 μm) column with a gradient mobile phase system and a UV detector. The complete separation of all analytes was achieved within 8.0 min. The method was validated for the determination of the aforementioned substances in human urine. The linear ranges, limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantification (LOQ) for β-blockers, isoflavones and their metabolites were determined. The intra- and inter-day precision (%C.V.) was less than 4.48%, and the intra-day and inter-day accuracy was less than 4.74%. The tested SPE sorbent proved that appropriate absolute recoveries can be obtained for Oasis HLB (Waters). The mean recovery of the analytes, using the new SPE procedure, amounted from 70.14% to 99.85%. The present paper reports, for the first time, the method for the determination of β-blockers, isoflavones and their metabolites in human urine samples. The newly developed method was suitably validated and successfully applied for the analysis of the certain of the aforementioned analytes in human urine samples obtained from the patients suffering cardiovascular disease.     

Development and validation of a liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method for the determination of goserelin in rabbit plasma

A rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry method (LC–ESI-MS/MS) was developed and validated for the determination of goserelin in rabbit plasma. Various parameters affecting plasma sample preparation, LC separation, and MS/MS detection were investigated, and optimized conditions were identified. Acidified plasma samples were applied to Oasis^® HLB solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridges. Extracted samples were evaporated under a stream of nitrogen and then reconstituted with 100 μL mobile phase A. The separation was achieved on a Capcell-Pak C18 (2.0 mm × 150 mm, 5 μm, AQ type) column with a gradient elution of solvent A (0.05% acetic acid in deionized water/acetonitrile = 85/15; v/v) and solvent B (acetonitrile) at a flow rate of 250 μL/min. The LC–MS/MS system was equipped with an electrospray ion source operating in positive ion mode. Multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) of the precursor–product ion transitions consisted of m/z 635.7 → m/z 607.5 for goserelin and m/z 424.0 → m/z 292.1 for cephapirin (internal standard). The proposed method was validated by assessing specificity, linearity, limit of quantification (LOQ), intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy, recovery, and stability. Linear calibration curves were obtained in the concentration range of 0.1–20 ng/mL (the correlation coefficients were above 0.99). The LOQ of the method was 0.1 ng/mL. Results obtained from the validation study of goserelin showed good accuracy and precision at concentrations of 0.1, 1, 5, 10, and 20 ng/mL. The validated method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of goserelin after a single subcutaneous injection of 3.6 mg of goserelin in healthy white rabbits.     

A sensitive non-radioactive in situ hybridization method for the detection of chicken IgG γ-chain mRNA: a technique suitable for detecting of variety of mRNAs in tissue sections

We established a sensitive non-radioactive in situ hybridization (ISH) method for the detection of chicken IgG γ-chain mRNA in paraffin sections. RNA probes were transcribed in vitro fromcloned chicken IgG CH1 nucleotide sequences with SP6/T7 RNA polymerases in the presence of DIG-UTP. These probes were used for hybridization and were immunodetected using anti-DIG antibodies conjugated to horseradish peroxidase. The immunoreactive products were visualized with DAB-H₂O₂. IgG γ-chain mRNA-expressing cells were localized in both the spleen and oviductal tissues. This method demonstrated an excellent sensitivity since the ISH signal was clear and the background was negligible. We found that in the spleen IgG γ-chain mRNA-expressing cells were present mainly in the red pulp, whereas in the oviduct they appeared mainly in the mucosal stroma and not in the mucosal epithelium. Published: May 14, 2001.     

New method for the determination of doxorubicin, 4′-epidoxorubicin and all known metabolites in cardiac tissue

4′-Epidoxorubicin, doxorubicin (internal standard) and eight metabolites were extracted from heart tissue homogenate by a mixture of tetrahydrofuran-water (1:2, v/v) and purified by C₁₈ Sep-Pak cartridges. The buffer used to prepare the homogenate contained glucaric acid-1,4-lactone and glucose, to prevent decomposition of the 4′ -epidoxorubicin glucuronides. Anthracyclines were separated by high-performance liquid chromatography within 14 min and detected by fluorescence. Recoveries ranged from 49 to 75%. The detection limits of the individual anthracyclines ranged from 0.5·10⁻¹¹ to 2.5·10⁻¹¹ mol/g wet weight. The peak-height ratios of the fluorescence intensities of the anthracyclines versus doxorubicin were linear from 2.5·10⁻¹¹ to 250·10⁻¹¹ mol/g wet weight. Within- and between-day precisions of the assay varied between the anthracyclines and were in the ranges 3–12% (n=6) and 2–11% (n=6), respectively.     

Solid-phase microextraction gas chromatographic–mass spectrometric method for the determination of inhalation anesthetics in urine

Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) has been applied to the headspace sampling of inhalation anesthetics (i.e. nitrous oxide, isoflurane and halothane) in human urine. Analysis was carried out by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry using a capillary column with a divinylbenzene porous polymeric stationary phase. A SPME divinylbenzene–Carboxen–polydimethylsiloxane coated fiber, 2 cm long, was used, and its performances were compared with those of a Carboxen–PDMS in terms of sensitivity, extraction efficiency, extraction time, fiber coating–urine distribution coefficient. For both fibers, linearity was established over four orders of magnitude, limits of detection were below 100 ng/l for nitrous oxide and below 30 ng/l for halogenated. Precision calculated as %RSD was within 3–13% for all intra- and inter-day determinations. The method was applied to the quantitative analysis of anesthetics in the urine of occupationally exposed people (operating room personnel).     

Rapid,highly sensitive method for the determination of morphine and its metabolites in body fluids by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

A rapid, highly sensitive method for the determination of morphine and its metabolites morphine-3-glucuronide (M3G), morphine-6-glucuronide (M6G) and normorphine has been developed using high-performance liquid chromatography–electrospray mass spectrometry, with the deuterated analogues as internal standards. The analytes were extracted automatically using end-capped C₂ solid-phase extraction cartridges. Baseline separation of morphine, M3G and M6G was achieved on a LiChrospher 100 RP-18 end-capped analytical column (125×3 mm I.D., 5 μm particle size) with water–acetonitrile–tetrahydrofuran–formic acid (100:1:1:0.1, v/v) as the mobile phase. Morphine and normorphine coeluate and were separated mass spectrometrically. The mass spectrometer was operated in the selected-ion monitoring mode using m/z 272 for normorphine, m/z 286 for morphine, m/z 462 for morphine-6-glucuronide. Due to an interfering peak, M3G was measured by tandem mass spectrometry in the daughter-ion mode. The limits of quantitation achieved with this method were 1.3 pmol/ml for morphine, 1.5 pmol/ml for normorphine, 1.0 pmol/ml for M6G and 5.4 pmol/ml for M3G in serum or cerebrospinal fluid. The limits of quantitation achieved in urine were 10 pmol/ml for morphine, 20 pmol/ml for normorphine and M6G and 50 pmol/ml for M3G using a sample size of 100 μl. The method described was successfully applied to the determination of morphine and its metabolites in human serum, cerebrospinal fluid and urine in pharmacokinetic and drug interaction studies.