Application of high-performance capillary electrophoresis to the quantitative analysis of nicotine and profiling of other alkaloids in ATF-regulated tobacco products.

Tobacco products regulated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), are classified at different excise tax rates according to the Code of Federal Regulations. These include the smoking (cigars, cigarettes, pipe tobacco and roll-your-own) and smokeless (chewing tobacco and snuff) tobacco products. The active principal components in all tobacco products belong to a class of compounds known as alkaloids. Nicotine is the major tobacco alkaloid, comprising about 98% of the total alkaloids. It is also the primary determinant of what constitutes a tobacco product from a regulatory standpoint. Nornicotine, anabasine and anatabine constitute the minor tobacco alkaloids of importance and interest to ATF. We have previously shown capillary electrophoresis (CE) to be a powerful analytical tool for monitoring nicotine in ATF-regulated products. Here we have extended those CE studies to (i) quantitate nicotine in ATF-regulated tobacco products and (ii) to characterize these different tobacco products according to their alkaloid profiles. Results from these studies will be presented.

Capillary electrophoresis as an analytical tool for monitoring nicotine in ATF regulated tobacco products.

Tobacco products are classified at different excise tax rates according to the Code of Federal Regulations. These include cigars, cigarettes, pipe tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco, chewing tobacco and snuff. Nicotine is the primary determinant of what constitutes a tobacco product from a regulatory standpoint. Determination of nicotine, therefore, is of primary importance and interest to ATF. Since nicotine is also the most abundant alkaloid found in tobacco, comprising about 98% of the total alkaloid content, a rapid method for the determination of nicotine in ATF regulated products is desirable. Capillary electrophoresis (CE), as an analytical technique, is rapidly gaining importance capturing the interest of analysts in several areas. The unique and powerful capabilities of CE including high resolution and short analysis times, make it a powerful analytical tool in the regulatory area as well. Preliminary studies using a 25 mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 2.5 at 260 nm have yielded promising results for the analysis of nicotine in tobacco products. Application of an analytical method for the determination of nicotine by CE to ATF regulated tobacco products will be presented.

Determination of furosine in biomedical samples employing an improved hydrolysis and high-performance liquid chromatographic technique.

Traditionally, the most sensitive and specific determination of non-enzymatic protein glycation has involved an 18-24-h acid hydrolysis in order to generate the compound furosine, which has been detected employing reversed-phase h.p.l.c. In this study, we have reported that significant quantities of furosine can be generated with much shorter hydrolysis times employing a 90-min vapor-phase acid hydrolysis procedure. The furosine generated by vapor-phase hydrolysis is then quantitated by pulsed amperometric detection using anion-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography. Employing this method, we were able to show that furosine generated from acid hydrolysis of purified hepatic membranes in a diabetic and non-diabetic animal model agreed with traditional methods assessing total glycated protein (i.e., boronate affinity methods).

Liver and kidney tissue membranes as tissue markers for nonenzymatic glycosylation.

We investigated the relationship of serum protein glycosylation to peripheral tissue membrane glycosylation. We studied 27 Sprague-Dawley rats and induced diabetes in 20 of them. Blood glucose levels were treated in 10 of the diabetic animals with daily subcutaneous insulin. After 8 wk, liver and kidney tissue was removed, purified membranes were prepared, and the percentage of glycosylated membrane protein was determined for the liver and kidney membranes by boronate-affinity methods. The percentage of glycosylated membrane protein for both liver and kidney tissue was found to correlate significantly with the glycemic state of the animal as assessed with glycosylated serum albumin, total glycosylated serum proteins, and glycosylated hemoglobin determinations (P less than 0.001 for each glycosylated protein parameter). In addition, the percentage of glycosylated membrane protein in the liver tissue correlated significantly with the measured level in the corresponding kidney tissue (r = 0.78, P less than 0.001). To identify the nature of the glycosylated membrane proteins, boronate-affinity methods were used to separate the glycosylated and nonglycosylated membrane proteins. It was determined that two major glycosylated protein bands exist for the liver membrane (78,000 and 58,700 Mr) and four for the kidney membranes (ranging from 48,700 to 74,000 Mr). The ultrastructural location and identification of these glycosylated membrane proteins are not known. This study demonstrates that measurement of clinical glycemic state, as reflected in glycosylated blood protein parameters such as glycosylated serum albumin and glycosylated hemoglobin, correlates significantly with ongoing tissue membrane accumulation of glucose.

The use of bacteria as probes for lectins in preparations of solubilized human tonsil cell membranes.

In earlier work we have shown that some bacteria bind naturally to lymphocyte subpopulations and that this binding may be due to lectin-carbohydrate interactions. Here we determined the possibility of using bacteria to probe for these lectins in solubilized tonsil cell membrane preparations. Since lectins are capable of agglutination, we determined the ability of human tonsil cell membrane extract (TCME) to agglutinate bacteria. We used Escherichia coli strain YS57 which does not bind to human lymphocytes and a mutant strain derived from it, E. coli UI 2023, which binds to about 50 percent of human lymphocytes. The UI 2023 was agglutinated while the YS57 was not; this agglutination was not due to antibodies or DNA. When E. coli UI 2023 was treated with periodate, it lost its ability to be agglutinated. The agglutination of E. coli UI 2023 was not blocked by any of the monosaccharides and disaccharides used but was blocked by the E. coli LPS, more specifically, by its carbohydrate moiety. Also, the E. coli UI 2023 absorbed the agglutinating factor while its parental strain, YS57, did not. Sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of TCME after absorption with bacteria showed that a band around 67kD was absent in the TCME absorbed by E. coli prevented the absorption by E. coli UI 2023 whereas Na2IO4-treated LPS did not. In addition, tonsil cell membrane was radioiodinated before obtaining the TCME; sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the radioiodinated TCME recovered after elution from E. coli UI 2023, but not from E. coli YS57, showed again a band around 67 kD.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Conformation of the antifreeze glycoprotein of polar fish.

High-field proton and 13C NMR spectroscopy has been used to test and refine the recent proposal, based on vacuum uv circular dichroism results, of a threefold left-handed helical conformation for antifreeze glycoprotein (AFGP). Partial assignment of the protons of the glycotripeptide repeating unit has been made by comparison with spectra of model compounds, by selective decoupling, and by measurements of nuclear Overhauser effect (nOe). At 40 degrees C, AFGP fraction 8 (Mr 2600) shows 2-Hz linewidths which broaden at lower temperature. Neither 1H nor 13C chemical shifts depend strongly on temperature, suggesting no abrupt conformational transition. The nOe between alanine alpha and beta protons vary with temperature and with field strength, from small positive enhancements at 50 degrees C and 80 MHz to large negative effects at 3 degrees C and 300 MHz, indicating a substantial change of rotational correlation time with temperature. The higher-molecular-weight fraction 1-4 shows negative nOe at all temperatures. The CD spectra of fraction 1-4 show bands characteristic of the polyproline II structure at both 3 and 50 degrees C, while those bands in fraction 8 are weaker at 50 than 3 degrees C. The 1H nOe, the 13C T1, and CD data are interpreted as indicating that AFGP fraction 8 is an extended "rod-like" conformation at low temperature which becomes a flexible coil at high temperature, while fraction 1-4 is a flexible rod with sufficient segmental mobility to eliminate any long-range order.

Conformation of the complex oligosaccharides of glycoproteins. A vacuum ultraviolet circular dichroism study.

Circular dichroism spectroscopy in the 170-220-nm range of the ultraviolet and measurements of the amide proton coupling constants in nmr have been used to investigate the conformation of asparagine-linked glycopeptides having oligosaccharide chains of the complex antenna type. The CD spectra can be explained as the sum of three contributions, the first of which is a pair of large bands of opposite sign resulting from coupling of the adjacent chromophores of the 2-acetamido-1-N-(4-aspartyl)-2-deoxy-beta-D-glucopyranosylamine linkage. Secondly the amide chromophore of the core N-acetylglucosamine residue substituted at carbon 4 by a beta-mannosyl residue contributes a negative band at 210 nm along with a small negative signal in the 180-190-nm region. The amides of the antenna N-acetylglucosamine residues, which in some cases are substituted by beta-galactosyl residues at carbon 4, contribute a negative band at 210 and a strong positive band at 185-190 nm. Since these three contributions are approximately independent, we can detect no long range interactions between nonreducing termini and the glycopeptide linkage region. Both CD and nmr data imply that the glucosaminyl-asparagine linkage is rigidly fixed in a conformation having the amide protons trans to the sugar ring protons. These results are consistent with an extended conformation in the shape of a "Y" or a "T" for complex type asialo-oligosaccharide chains.

Antifreeze glycoprotein. Conformational model based on vacuum ultraviolet circular dichroism data.

Circular dichroism spectra (CD) of an active fraction of antifreeze glycoprotein (AFGP) and of a lower molecular weight fraction which is less active are found to be similar in the wavelength range 170-230 nm. The contribution of the disaccharide side chain chromophores to the CD spectra of the glycoprotein is estimated from spectra of model oligosaccharides having similar structures. Comparison of the CD spectra of the peptide portion of AFGP to those of established model polypeptides suggests a 3-fold left-handed helix of the collagen type as the most likely conformation of the peptide. In the proposed model, the disaccharide moieties attached to every third residue are in identical environments. Furthermore, proline residues which are found in the less active fraction can be accommodated in this helical structure, consistent with the observed similarity of the spectra of the two fractions.