In vitro digestion of luteinizing hormone releasing hormone analog (LHRHa) using simulated gastric conditions in assessing human food safety.

Luteinizing hormone releasing hormone analog (LHRHa, des Gly10, [D-Ala6] ethylamide) is routinely applied for induced spawning of fish. Simulated gastric acid and pepsin were used to mimic human digestion in vitro to determine the stability of LHRHa upon possible ingestion. In vitro cleavage of LHRHa was quantified using UPLC-MS, ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. LHRHa was broken down mainly into two fragments from Glp-His-Trp-Ser-Tyr-D-Ala-Leu-Arg-Pro-NHEt (LHRHa) to Trp-Ser-Tyr-D-Ala-Leu-Arg-Pro-NHEt (fragment 1) and Ser-Tyr-D-Ala-Leu-Arg-Pro-NHEt (fragment 2). By 24h of incubation, LHRHa was completely digested or barely detectable if the starting material was at 250 ng/µl. If the starting concentration was at 5 ng/µl, LHRHa was completely digested by 5h of incubation, or earlier. In both extreme scenarios, the results indicated that LHRHa would be digested completely in the human stomach and would pose no risk in human food consumption. This study supports the assertion that LHRHa used as a spawning aid would not pose a human food safety risk.

Blood Glucose-lowering Effect of T. procumbens L.: A Pilot Clinical Study in Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes.

Traditional knowledge, in vitro studies, and studies using animal models suggest that Tridax procumbens L. exhibits blood glucose-lowering properties and antiinflammatory effects. In this study, we evaluated the blood glucose-lowering effect of T. procumbens supplementation in individuals with type 2 diabetes. An extract (asava) of T. procumbens L. was prepared following Ayurveda guidelines. Chemical and microbial analyses indicated presence of phenolics, flavonoids, and carotenoids, and absence of microbial contamination, aflatoxins, heavy metals, and pesticide residues. A chemical fingerprint of T. procumbens L. asava, developed using Ultra high pressure liquid chromatography/electron spray ionization-mass spectrometry (UPLC/ESI-MS) in negative mode, suggest the presence of several compounds including polyphenols. T. procumbens asava demonstrated strong total antioxidant capacity, Fe3+ reducing potential, Fe2+ chelation, H2 O2 scavenging activity, and inhibition of lipid peroxidation. We recruited 20 type 2 diabetic individuals from Kolhapur, India. Participants received 15 mL of T. procumbens asava, twice daily, for 4 weeks, while continuing their prescribed antidiabetic medications. Fasting blood glucose decreased by 11% in men (p < 0.01) and 20% in women (p < 0.05), and post-prandial blood glucose concentrations were lowered by 26% in men (p < 0.001) and 29% in women (p < 0.001) following 4 weeks of asava supplementation. No adverse events or side effects were reported. This is the first clinical study demonstrating a significant blood glucose-lowering effect of T. procumbens asava in type 2 diabetes. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Detoxification of biomass hydrolysates with nucleophilic amino acids enhances alcoholic fermentation.

Carbonyl compounds generated in biomass pretreatment hinder the biochemical conversion of biomass hydrolysates to biofuels. A novel approach of detoxifying hydrolysates with amino acids for ethanol production was developed. Among the 20 amino acids assessed for their detoxification efficiency and nucleophilicity, cysteine was the most effective one. It increased both ethanol productivity and final yield of biomass hydrolysates from 0.18 (untreated) to 1.77 g/L/h and from 0.02 to 0.42 g/g, respectively. Detoxification efficiency was followed by histidine and it increased the final yield to 0.42 g/g, then by lysine, tryptophan and asparagine. It was observed all five effective amino acids contained reactive side-chain functional groups, which played important roles in the amino acid detoxification reaction. The study further showed cysteine and glycine detoxifications were temperature and pH dependent. The mechanistic study using mass spectrometry revealed thiazolidine carboxylic acid, a Schiff base, was formed by condensation of aldehyde and cysteine.

Effect of carbonyl inhibitors and their H2O2 detoxification on lactic acid fermentation.

Biomass degradation compounds significantly inhibit biochemical conversion of biomass prehydrolysates to biofuels and chemicals, such as lactic acid. To characterize the structure-activity relationship of carbonyl inhibition on lactic acid fermentation, we examined effects of eight carbonyl compounds (furfural, 5-hydroxymethyl furfural, vanillin, syringaldehyde, 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, phthalaldehyde, benzoic acid, and pyrogallol aldehyde) and creosol on lactic acid production by Lactobacillus delbrueckii. Pyrogallol aldehyde reduced the cell growth rate by 35 % at 1.0 mM and inhibited lactic acid production completely at 2.0 mM. By correlating the molecular descriptors to the inhibition constants in lactic acid fermentation, we found a good relationship between the hydrophobicity (Log P) of aldehydes and their inhibition constants in fermentation. The inhibitory effect of carbonyl inhibitors appeared to correlate with their thiol reactivity as well. In addition, we found that H2O2 detoxified pyrogallol aldehyde and phthalaldehyde inhibitory activity. H2O2 detoxification was applied to real biomass prehydrolysates in lactic acid fermentation.

Scaffold materials from glycosylated and PEGylated bovine serum albumin.

Bovine serum albumin has been PEGylated and glycosylated to create mimetic materials for the extracellular matrix (ECM) with potential tissue engineering applications. Different surfaces for cell adhesion were achieved by crosslinking the initial albumin product and forming either a coating or a sponge-like three-dimensional morphology to mimic the mesh structure of natural ECM. The biocompatibility of the albumin matrix with mammalian cells was evaluated using cell culture assays with NIH 3T3 cells. The results indicated that glycoprotein composition and specific morphology of the assembly can improve the cell growth environment. These ECM mimetic structures might eventually be considered to serve as alternatives for the more expensive collagen and elastin based ECM substances currently in use in tissue engineering.

Adsorption-induced changes in ribonuclease A structure and enzymatic activity on solid surfaces.

Ribonuclease A (RNase A) is a small globular enzyme that lyses RNA. The remarkable solution stability of its structure and enzymatic activity has led to its investigation to develop a new class of drugs for cancer chemotherapeutics. However, the successful clinical application of RNase A has been reported to be limited by insufficient stability and loss of enzymatic activity when it was coupled with a biomaterial carrier for drug delivery. The objective of this study was to characterize the structural stability and enzymatic activity of RNase A when it was adsorbed on different surface chemistries (represented by fused silica glass, high-density polyethylene, and poly(methyl-methacrylate)). Changes in protein structure were measured by circular dichroism, amino acid labeling with mass spectrometry, and in vitro assays of its enzymatic activity. Our results indicated that the process of adsorption caused RNase A to undergo a substantial degree of unfolding with significant differences in its adsorbed structure on each material surface. Adsorption caused RNase A to lose about 60% of its native-state enzymatic activity independent of the material on which it was adsorbed. These results indicate that the native-state structure of RNase A is greatly altered when it is adsorbed on a wide range of surface chemistries, especially at the catalytic site. Therefore, drug delivery systems must focus on retaining the native structure of RNase A in order to maintain a high level of enzymatic activity for applications such as antitumor chemotherapy.

Effect of liquefaction temperature on hydroxyl groups of bio-oil from loblolly pine (Pinus taeda).

Loblolly pine was liquefied with ethylene glycol at 100, 150, 200 and 250 °C in order to analyze the effect of liquefaction temperature on hydroxyl groups of bio-oil, and to determine the source and variation of hydroxyl groups. The optimum temperature was found to be 150-200 °C. Hydroxyl number (OHN) of the bio-oil was ranged from 632 to 1430 mg KOH/g. GC-MS analysis showed that 70-90% of OHN was generated from unreacted EG. (31)P NMR analysis showed that the majority of hydroxyl groups were aliphatic, and none of the bio-oil exhibited any detectable hydroxyl groups from phenolic sources. Finally, it was found that all bio-oils were stable in terms of OHN for 2 months when stored at -10 °C.

Elucidating the process of activation of methyl-coenzyme M reductase.

Methyl-coenzyme M reductase (MCR) catalyzes the reversible reduction of methyl-coenzyme M (CH3-S-CoM) and coenzyme B (HS-CoB) to methane and heterodisulfide CoM-S-S-CoB (HDS). MCR contains the hydroporphinoid nickel complex coenzyme F430 in its active site, and the Ni center has to be in its Ni(I) valence state for the enzyme to be active. Until now, no in vitro method that fully converted the inactive MCRsilent-Ni(II) form to the active MCRred1-Ni(I) form has been described. With the potential use of recombinant MCR in the production of biofuels and the need to better understand this enzyme and its activation process, we studied its activation under nonturnover conditions and achieved full MCR activation in the presence of dithiothreitol and protein components A2, an ATP carrier, and A3a. It was found that the presence of HDS promotes the inactivation of MCRred1, which makes it essential that the activation process is isolated from the methane formation assay, which tends to result in minimal activation rates. Component A3a is a multienzyme complex that includes the mcrC gene product, an Fe-protein homolog, an iron-sulfur flavoprotein, and protein components involved in electron bifurcation. A hypothetical model for the cellular activation process of MCR is presented.

Determination of orientation and adsorption-induced changes in the tertiary structure of proteins on material surfaces by chemical modification and peptide mapping.

The labeling of amino acid residues followed by peptide mapping via mass spectrometry (AAL/MS) is a promising technique to provide detailed information on the adsorption-induced changes in its solvent accessibility. However, the potential of this method for the study of adsorbed protein structure is largely undeveloped at this time. The objective of this research was therefore to extend these capabilities by developing and applying AAL/MS techniques for a range of amino acid types to identify the dominant configurations of an adsorbed protein on a material surface. In this study, the configuration of hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL) adsorbed on fused silica glass, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) was mapped by combining the labeling profiles obtained from five amino acid labels, which were independently applied. In order to be able to combine the results from the different amino acid labeling processes, the intensity of the HEWL segment without the target amino acids was used as an internal control to normalize the intensity shifts to an equivalent level. The resulting quantitative differences in the normalized amino acid profiles were then used to provide insights into adsorbed orientation, protein-protein interactions and adsorption-induced tertiary unfolding of HEWL, which were found to be distinctly different between the fused silica glass, HDPE and PMMA surfaces. The developed technique has the potential for broad application and for expansion to additional targeted amino acids to provide highly detailed information on the adsorbed state of any protein on any given surface.

Estimation of angiotensin peptides in biological samples by LC/MS method.

The low abundance of angiotensin peptides in biological tissues such as the kidney cortex, adipose tissue, urine and plasma makes their detection and quantification a challenge. A few available methods used to quantify these peptides involve lengthy processes of sample preparation and are hardly quantitative. Here, we report a mass spectrometry approach for quantifying angiotensin peptides [Ang II, Ang-(1-7)] in the kidney cortex, epididymal white adipose tissue (eWAT), urine and plasma of male mice. Tissue homogenates, urine and plasma samples were solid-phase extracted with C18 Sep-Pak cartridges and eluted off proteinaceous compounds. These extracted peptide samples were separated on C18 column with a linear acetonitrile gradient and detected by Q-ToF mass analyzer in ESI+-MS ion mode based on their retention time, accurate mass measurement of peptides, the isotope pattern of doubly charged molecular ion, and quantitation of peak area (or ion count) when referencing to the angiotensin peptide standards. The lower limit of quantitation for each angiotensin peptide was 10 pgmg-1 with the percent recovery at 100.6%. The intra-batch precision for Ang-(1-7) and Ang II were 24.0 and 12.7%, accuracy 84.0-123.0% and 100.2-116.0% respectively. Using this method, we determined the levels of Ang II and Ang-(1-7) in the kidney cortex, eWAT, urine and plasma. Quantification of angiotensin peptides could help target subtle therapeutics changes against pathophysiological conditions such as obesity, kidney disease and hypertension.

Inhibitory activity of carbonyl compounds on alcoholic fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Aldehydes and acids play important roles in the fermentation inhibition of biomass hydrolysates. A series of carbonyl compounds (vanillin, syringaldehyde, 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, pyrogallol aldehyde, and o-phthalaldehyde) were used to examine the quantitative structure-inhibitory activity relationship of carbonyl compounds on alcoholic fermentation, based on the glucose consumption rate and the final ethanol yield. It was observed that pyrogallol aldehyde and o-phthalaldehyde (5.0 mM) reduced the initial glucose consumption rate by 60 and 89%, respectively, and also decreased the final ethanol yield by 60 and 99%, respectively. Correlating the molecular descriptors to inhibition efficiency in yeast fermentation revealed a strong relationship between the energy of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (ELUMO) of aldehydes and their inhibitory efficiency in fermentation. On the other hand, vanillin, syringaldehyde, and 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (5.0 mM) increased the final ethanol yields by 11, 4, and 1%, respectively. Addition of vanillin appeared to favor ethanol formation over glycerol formation and decreased the glycerol yield in yeast fermentation. Furthermore, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) activity dropped significantly from 3.85 to 2.72, 1.83, 0.46, and 0.11 U/mg at 6 h of fermentation at vanillin concentrations of 0, 2.5, 5.0, 10.0, and 25.0 mM correspondingly. In addition, fermentation inhibition by acetic acid and benzoic acid was pH-dependent. Addition of acetate, benzoate, and potassium chloride increased the glucose consumption rate, likely because the salts enhanced membrane permeability, thus increasing glucose consumption.

Chronic AT2 receptor activation increases renal ACE2 activity, attenuates AT1 receptor function and blood pressure in obese Zucker rats.

Abnormal regulation of the renin angiotensin system such as enhanced renal AT1R function and reduced ACE2 activity contributes to obesity-related hypertension. Here, we tested whether long-term AT2R activation affects renal function in obesity using lean and obese Zucker rats treated with the AT2R agonist CGP42112A for 2 weeks. This caused blood pressure to decrease by 13 mm Hg, which was associated with increased urinary sodium excretion in the obese rats. Cortical ACE2 expression and activity, the Mas receptor (MasR), and its ligand angiotensin-(1-7) were all increased in CGP-treated obese compared with control rats. Candesartan-induced natriuresis, a measure of AT1R function, was reduced but cortical AT1R expression and angiotensin II levels were similar in CGP-treated obese compared with control rats. Renin and AT2R expression in obese rats was not affected by CGP treatment. In HK-2 cells in vitro, CGP treatment caused increased ACE2 activity and MasR levels but decreased AT1R levels and renin activity. Thus, long-term AT2R activation shifts the opposing arms of renin angiotensin system and contributes to natriuresis and blood pressure reduction in obese animals. Our study highlights the importance of AT2R as a target for treating obesity-related hypertension.

High Na intake increases renal angiotensin II levels and reduces expression of the ACE2-AT(2)R-MasR axis in obese Zucker rats.

High sodium intake is known to regulate the renal renin-angiotensin system (RAS) and is a risk factor for the pathogenesis of obesity-related hypertension. The complex nature of the RAS reveals that its various components may have opposing effects on natriuresis and blood pressure regulation. We hypothesized that high sodium intake differentially regulates and shifts a balance between opposing components of the renal RAS, namely, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE)-ANG II-type 1 ANG II receptor (AT(1)R) vs. AT(2)-ACE2-angiotensinogen (Ang) (1-7)-Mas receptor (MasR), in obesity. In the present study, we evaluated protein and/or mRNA expression of angiotensinogen, renin, AT(1A/B)R, ACE, AT(2)R, ACE2, and MasR in the kidney cortex following 2 wk of a 8% high-sodium (HS) diet in lean and obese Zucker rats. The expression data showed that the relative expression pattern of ACE and AT(1B)R increased, renin decreased, and ACE2, AT(2)R, and MasR remained unaltered in HS-fed lean rats. On the other hand, HS intake in obese rats caused an increase in the cortical expression of ACE, a decrease in ACE2, AT(2)R, and MasR, and no changes in renin and AT(1)R. The cortical levels of ANG II increased by threefold in obese rats on HS compared with obese rats on normal salt (NS), which was not different than in lean rats. The HS intake elevated mean arterial pressure in obese rats (27 mmHg) more than in lean rats (16 mmHg). This study suggests that HS intake causes a pronounced increase in ANG II levels and a reduction in the expression of the ACE2-AT(2)R-MasR axis in the kidney cortex of obese rats. We conclude that such changes may lead to the potentially unopposed function of AT(1)R, with its various cellular and physiological roles, including the contribution to the pathogenesis of obesity-related hypertension.

Improvement in HPLC separation of acetic acid and levulinic acid in the profiling of biomass hydrolysate.

5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and furfural could be separated by the Aminex HPX-87H column chromatography, however, the separation and quantification of acetic acid and levulinic acid in biomass hydrolysate have been difficult with this method. In present study, the HPLC separation of acetic acid and levulinic acid on Aminex HPX-87H column has been investigated by varying column temperature, flow rate, and sulfuric acid content in the mobile phase. The column temperature was found critical in resolving acetic acid and levulinic acid. The resolution for two acids increased dramatically from 0.42 to 1.86 when the column temperature was lowered from 60 to 30 °C. So did the capacity factors for levulinic acid that was increased from 1.20 to 1.44 as the column temperature dropped. The optimum column temperature for the separation was found at 45 °C. Variation in flow rate and sulfuric acid concentration improved not as much as the column temperature did.

Mechanism of photolytic decomposition of N-halamine antimicrobial siloxane coatings.

Generally, antimicrobial N-halamine siloxane coatings can be rehalogenated repetitively upon loss of their biocidal efficacies, a marked advantage over coatings containing other antimicrobial materials. However, the N-halamine materials tend to slowly decompose upon exposure to ultraviolet irradiation as in direct sunlight. In this work the mechanism of photolytic decomposition for the N-halamine siloxanes has been studied using spectroscopic and theoretical methods. It was found that the N-chlorinated coatings slowly decomposed upon UVA irradiation, whereas the unhalogenated coatings did not. Model compound evidence in this work suggests that upon UVA irradiation, the N-Cl bond dissociates homolytically, followed by a Cl radical migration to the alkyl side chain connected to the siloxane tethering group. An alpha and/or beta scission then occurs causing partial loss of the biocidal moiety from the surface of the coated material, thus precluding complete rechlorination. NMR, FTIR, GCMS, and computations at the DFT (U)B3LYP/6-311++G(2d,p) level of theory have been employed in reaching this conclusion.

Probing the conformation and orientation of adsorbed enzymes using side-chain modification.

The bioactivity of enzymes that are adsorbed on surfaces can be substantially influenced by the orientation of the enzyme on the surface and adsorption-induced changes in the enzyme's structure. Circular dichroism (CD) is a powerful method for observing the secondary structure of proteins; however, it provides little information regarding the tertiary structure of a protein or its adsorbed orientation. In this study, we developed methods using side-chain-specific chemical modification of solvent-exposed tryptophan residues to complement CD spectroscopy and bioactivity assays to provide greater detail regarding whether changes in enzyme bioactivity following adsorption are due to adsorbed orientation and/or adsorption-induced changes in the overall structure. These methods were then applied to investigate how adsorption influences the bioactivity of hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL) and glucose oxidase (GOx) on alkanethiol self-assembled monolayers over a range of surface chemistries. The results from these studies indicate that surface chemistry significantly influences the bioactive state of each of these enzymes but in distinctly different ways. Changes in the bioactive state of HEWL are largely governed by its adsorbed orientation, while the bioactive state of adsorbed GOx is influenced by a combination of both adsorbed orientation and adsorption-induced changes in conformation.

Straw blood cell count, growth, inhibition and comparison to apoptotic bodies.

BACKGROUND: Mammalian cells transform into individual tubular straw cells naturally in tissues and in response to desiccation related stress in vitro. The transformation event is characterized by a dramatic cellular deformation process which includes: condensation of certain cellular materials into a much smaller tubular structure, synthesis of a tubular wall and growth of filamentous extensions. This study continues the characterization of straw cells in blood, as well as the mechanisms of tubular transformation in response to stress; with specific emphasis placed on investigating whether tubular transformation shares the same signaling pathway as apoptosis. RESULTS: There are approximately 100 billion, unconventional, tubular straw cells in human blood at any given time. The straw blood cell count (SBC) is 45 million/ml, which accounts for 6.9% of the bloods dry weight. Straw cells originating from the lungs, liver and lymphocytes have varying nodules, hairiness and dimensions. Lipid profiling reveals severe disruption of the plasma membrane in CACO cells during transformation. The growth rates for the elongation of filaments and enlargement of rabbit straw cells is 0.6 approximately 1.1 (microm/hr) and 3.8 (microm(3)/hr), respectively. Studies using apoptosis inhibitors and a tubular transformation inhibitor in CACO2 cells and in mice suggested apoptosis produced apoptotic bodies are mediated differently than tubular transformation produced straw cells. A single dose of 0.01 mg/kg/day of p38 MAPK inhibitor in wild type mice results in a 30% reduction in the SBC. In 9 domestic animals SBC appears to correlate inversely with an animal's average lifespan (R2 = 0.7). CONCLUSION: Straw cells are observed residing in the mammalian blood with large quantities. Production of SBC appears to be constant for a given animal and may involve a stress-inducible protein kinase (P38 MAPK). Tubular transformation is a programmed cell survival process that diverges from apoptosis. SBCs may be an important indicator of intrinsic aging-related stress.

Naturally occurring and stress induced tubular structures from mammalian cells, a survival mechanism.

BACKGROUND: Tubular shaped mammalian cells in response to dehydration have not been previously reported. This may be due to the invisibility of these cells in aqueous solution, and because sugars and salts added to the cell culture for manipulation of the osmotic conditions inhibit transformation of normal cells into tubular shaped structures. RESULTS: We report the transformation of normal spherical mammalian cells into tubular shaped structures in response to stress. We have termed these transformed structures 'straw cells' which we have associated with a variety of human tissue types, including fresh, post mortem and frozen lung, liver, skin, and heart. We have also documented the presence of straw cells in bovine brain and prostate tissues of mice. The number of straw cells in heart, lung tissues, and collapsed straw cells in urine increases with the age of the mammal. Straw cells were also reproduced in vitro from human cancer cells (THP1, CACO2, and MCF7) and mouse stem cells (D1 and adipose D1) by dehydrating cultured cells. The tubular center of the straw cells is much smaller than the original cell; houses condensed organelles and have filamentous extensions that are covered with microscopic hair-like structures and circular openings. When rehydrated, the filaments uptake water rapidly. The straw cell walls, have a range of 120 nm to 200 nm and are composed of sulfated-glucose polymers and glycosylated acidic proteins. The transformation from normal cell to straw cells takes 5 to 8 hr in open-air. This process is characterized by an increase in metabolic activity. When rehydrated, the straw cells regain their normal spherical shape and begin to divide in 10 to 15 days. Like various types of microbial spores, straw cells are resistant to harsh environmental conditions such as UV-C radiation. CONCLUSION: Straw cells are specialized cellular structures and not artifacts from spontaneous polymerization, which are generated in response to stress conditions, like dehydration. The disintegrative, mobile, disruptive and ubiquitous nature of straw cells makes this a possible physiological process that may be involved in human health, longevity, and various types of diseases such as cancer.

Identification of antioxidant phenolic compounds in feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) by HPLC-ESI-MS/MS and NMR.

Antioxidant polyphenolic acids in the medicinal herb feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) were isolated through in vitro bioassay-orientated antioxidant tests in response to 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH*) free radical scavenging and Fe(2+)-chelating activities. Purification of the active compounds and their structural elucidation involved a variety of techniques including open-column chromatography, HPLC, GC-MS, LC-MS and NMR. Major compounds with potent DPPH* scavenging activities were characterised as 3,5-, 4,5- and 3,4-di-O-caffeoylquinic acids (DCQAs). This is the first report of DCQAs found in feverfew.

Capillary-channeled polymer fibers as a stationary phase for desalting of protein solutions for electrospray ionization mass spectrometry analysis.

Micropipet solid-phase extraction (SPE) tips have been used to desalt and purify proteins and peptides from mixtures of buffers and biological solutions. Removing salts and buffers prior to electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) characterization improves the detection limits and the sensitivity of the protein analyses. Recently, capillary-channeled polymer (C-CP) fibers have been investigated as stationary phases for high-performance liquid chromatography separations of proteins. Polypropylene C-CP fibers incorporated as sorbent materials in micro-SPE tips are shown to effectively remove both inorganic and organic buffers from proteins in defined solutions. The architecture of the fibers provides large surface areas in comparison to conventional round fibers and is readily packed into capillaries that can be affixed to micropipet tips. Desalting of protein solutions is demonstrated for ESI-MS analysis through increased signal-to-noise ratios and reduced spectral complexity.