Quality assurance testing for modern optical imaging systems.

The days of being able to ascertain instrument performance by simply peering through the eye pieces at a specimen are gone. However, users and granting agencies need to be confident that data collected on these instruments is uniform and quantifiable both over time and between instruments. Ideally, a LASER should not fluctuate, illumination should be completely uniform, and colors should be perfectly aligned. To check the current performance of imaging equipment, we conducted a worldwide research study utilizing three image-based tests: long-/short-term illumination stability, co-registration of signals across various wavelengths, and field illumination uniformity. To differentiate between "acceptable" and "unacceptable" performance, the deviation in illumination power could not exceed 10% (long term) or 3% (short term), the difference in the center-of-mass of imaged multicolored beads could not exceed >1 pixel between different wavelengths, and field illumination values could not exceed 10% (horizontal) or 20% (diagonal) deviation. This study established the current state of microscope performance through simple, efficient, and robust tests, while defining relative standards to assist cores in maintaining their instruments in optimal operating conditions. We developed cross-platform performance standards that will improve the validity of quantitative measurements made using various light microscopes.

Unique cyanide adduct in human serum albumin: potential as a surrogate exposure marker.

Cyanide (CN = HCN + CN(-)) is a renowned poison and neurotoxicant that is prevalent throughout the environment. Despite a plethora of studies conducted over the last half century, relatively little is known of its potential to cause adverse health outcomes at sublethal exposures. CN exposure is normally determined from blood, but because CN is rapidly metabolized and cleared from this compartment (t(1/2) < 1 h), it is common for several half-lives to have passed before blood samples are drawn for analysis. This variable, coupled with a very narrow toxic index and metabolic diversity within the human population, has rendered accurate assessment of CN exposure, and consequently any predictions of possible adverse health outcomes, highly problematic. Prior studies by us showed the potential of Cys-SCN adducts within human serum albumin (HSA) to act as retrospective surrogates of CN exposure. Here, we report the discovery of a stable, SCN adduct at Cys(567) formed by the reaction of CN with the C-terminal Cys(558)Cys(567) disulfide bond of HSA. Treatment of HSA purified from human serum with base in guanidine hydrochloride releases a readily detectable, uniquely modified, C-terminal-19-mer peptide from Cys(567)-SCN moieties in all the samples examined thus far. Inclusion of a HSA-Cys(567)-S(13)C(15)N labeled internal standard permits quantitation of the Cys(567)-SCN adduct by LC-MS/MS in selective reaction monitoring (SRM) of the surrogate peptide with high sensitivity and good precision. Reaction of CN in vitro with the Cys(558)Cys(567) disulfide bond in HSA is specific, rapid, and concentration dependent within a putative, physiologically relevant range. Data from various human sera demonstrate the potential usefulness of this adduct as a biomarker of CN exposure.

Cyanide adducts with human plasma proteins: albumin as a potential exposure surrogate.

Cyanide (CN) is a ubiquitous environmental toxicant. The measurement of CN in whole blood is a common exposure assay, but values are error prone because of CN's rapid metabolism and clearance (t1/2 < 1 h) from this compartment. This study was undertaken to determine whether CN forms covalent adduct(s) with plasma proteins that could serve as stable biomarker(s) and potential surrogate(s) of exposure. When added to human blood, plasma, or serum, CN formed covalent adducts with immunoglobulin G (IgG) and serum albumin (HSA) in the plasma fraction. Covalent adducts were not detected in the cellular, primarily erythrocyte, fraction. With human, mouse, and rabbit IgGs, the reaction with CN occurred at intra- and/or interchain disulfide linkages in the heavy and light chains. Digestion of CN-treated HSA with trypsin or the endoproteinase Lys-C at basic pH produced tautomeric 2-iminothiazoline-4-carboxylyl/2-aminothiazolidine-4-carboxylyl (itcCys) N-terminal peptides exclusively, consistent with prior model peptide/protein studies showing that under basic conditions internal S-cyanylated-Cys residues cyclize with concomitant release of the upstream peptide. The most readily detectable reaction of CN with purified HSA was at Cys34, the only Cys of the 35 present not connected as internal cystines. Because CN does not react with free sulfhydryl groups, it is probable that S-cyanylation at Cys34 occurs at those residues that carry GSH, Cys, or other small molecules as mixed disulfides. Relatively less detectable, modified Cys residues were also identified at positions 53, 124, 392, 477, and 487. When 14CN was added to human serum or whole blood at concentrations spanning a putative nontoxic to lethal range, stable adduct formation with HSA occurred in a linear, concentration-dependent reaction that was complete within 2 h. These attributes of the reaction, coupled with a plasma compartment location, suggest that quantitation of CN bound to HSA would provide a much more reliable assessment of exposure than does measurement of CN in blood.