Atmospheric pressure matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization ion trap mass spectrometry of sulfonic acid derivatized tryptic peptides.

Atmospheric pressure matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (AP-MALDI) and ion trap mass spectrometry have been used to study the fragmentation behavior of native peptides and peptide derivatives prepared for de novo sequencing applications. Sulfonic acid derivatized peptides were observed to fragment more extensively and up to 28 times more efficiently than the corresponding native peptides. Tandem mass spectra of native peptides containing aspartic or glutamic acids are dominated by cleavage on the C-terminal side of the acidic residues. This significantly limits the amount of sequence information that can be derived from those compounds. The MS/MS spectra of native tryptic peptides containing oxidized Met residues show extensive loss of CH(3)SOH and little sequence-specific fragmentation. On the other hand, the tandem mass spectra of derivatized peptides containing Asp, Glu and oxidized Met show much more uniform fragmentation along the peptide backbone. The AP-MALDI tandem mass spectra of some derivatized peptides were shown to be qualitatively very similar to the corresponding vacuum MALDI postsource decay mass spectra, which were obtained on a reflector time-of-flight instrument. However, the ion trap mass spectrometer offers several advantages for peptide sequencing relative to current reflector time-of-flight instruments including improved product ion mass measurement accuracy, improved precursor ion selection and MS(n). These latter capabilities were demonstrated with solution digests of model proteins and with in-gel digests of 2D-gel separated proteins.

Quantitative analysis of crude plasma extracts by ion trap tandem mass spectrometry.

The ion trap mass spectrometer is a tandem-in-time instrument that has promise as an extremely sensitive device for practical tandem mass spectrometry assays. An approach for the quantitative analysis of unknown drug levels in crude extracts, using combined capillary gas chromatography and the ion trap mass spectrometer in the tandem mode, is described. One-gram plasma samples were spiked with an anti-inflammatory drug at levels of 1-100 ng, and with 50 ng of a chemical analog internal standard. Crude extracts of the plasma samples are analyzed by using scan functions that utilize combined radiofrequency (rf) and de voltages. The need for combined rf- and de-voltage sequences for analysis of such extracts is demonstrated by comparison to attempted analyses using only rf voltages. Limitations of the method are: (1) the need for accurate calibration of ionization times to obtain linear calibration lines, and (2) the lack of automatic gain control for scans using combined rf and dc voltages to control and optimize parent ion populations and to allow a simpler analysis of "unknowns. "

Mass spectrometric analysis of 5-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (5-HETE) in the perfusate of the isolated rat lung.

The quantitative analysis of 5-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (5-HETE) is one means by which to assess the activation of the 5-lipoxygenase pathway of arachidonic acid in biologic fluids including lung perfusates. Using combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and an oxygen-18-labeled 5-HETE internal standard, a method of analysis has been developed that involves conversion of 5-HETE into its pentafluorobenzyl ester (PFB) which is purified and separated from 12- and 15-HETE PFB esters by thin-layer chromatography. Following isolation and trimethylsilyl ether formation, analysis on a short 5-m capillary GC column circumvents problems of thermal degradation. Negative ion chemical ionization results in abundant production of carboxylate anions (RCOO-) with little subsequent fragmentation; as little as 40 pg of 5-HETE (s/n approximately 10:1) could be detected in 5 ng of 1,1-[18O]2-5-HETE. Studies of the isolated rat lung perfused with a 4% albumin buffer revealed a significant increase in 5-HETE (750 pg/ml perfusate) when injury was induced by addition of glucose oxidase to the perfusion buffer (0.6 U/ml). This stimulated production of 5-HETE could be reversed by prior perfusion of the lung with the drug piriprost, an inhibitor of the 5-lipoxygenase cascade.

Effect of sustained water diuresis on prostaglandin E2 excretion in humans.

The relationship of the renal excretion of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) to urine flow during a water diuresis was examined using radioimmunoassay (RIA) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Seven normal women fasted overnight were water loaded with 20 ml/kg orally, and each hour for 3 h they drank water to replace the urine volume plus 20 ml. The osmolality of the collected urines ranged from 49 to 1,073 mosmol/kg. Assay of urinary PGE2 concentrations by both RIA and GC-MS gave a correlation coefficient of 0.94. Eight normal women were then studied with a water diuresis sustained for 6 h. The excretion of PGE2 (measured with the validated RIA) increased for the 1st 2-3 h (from 1.8 +/- 0.5 to 25.8 +/- 16.6 pg X kg-1 X min-1), but then fell to base-line level by the 5th h (to 2.9 +/- 0.8 pg X kg-1 X min-1) even though the water diuresis was sustained. The urinary concentration vs. time curves for PGE2 and for the freely diffusible solute urea were compared. PGE2 concentration remained elevated for 3 h before falling (from the 100 pg/ml range to 15 pg/ml) while urea concentration decreased steadily from the 1st h. This finding suggests that the early urinary PGE2 excretion was not a washout phenomenon and is consistent with a transient increase in PGE2 synthesis. We conclude that urinary excretion of PGE2 is not a simple function of urine flow after a water load. There is a transient initial increase in urinary PGE2 excretion at the start of a water load that probably reflects an increase in renal PGE2 synthesis. However, with a sustained water diuresis, PGE2 excretion falls, indicating that an enhanced PGE2 synthesis rate is not required to sustain a water diuresis.

Leukotriene inhibitors attenuate rat lung injury induced by hydrogen peroxide.

It is known that reactive oxygen species cause lung injury in association with activation of arachidonate metabolism. Because metabolites of the cyclooxygenase pathway do not appear to mediate the injury, we considered that the 5-lipoxygenase pathway might be activated and that inhibition of the pathway could interfere with the development of the injury. Thus, we sought to induce an oxidant lung injury and to prevent such injury by inhibiting lipoxygenase pathway or by blocking leukotriene action. In isolated rat lungs, glucose oxidase added to a glucose-containing, cell-free perfusate was used to produce the injurious oxygen species. Lung edema occurred and increased with increasing oxygen tension in the inspired air. Light microscopy of the lung showed perivascular fluid cuffs, and electron microscopy showed endothelial cell damage. Measurements in the lung effluent showed that concentrations of 5-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (5-HETE) and of cyclooxygenase metabolites increased after glucose oxidase administration; BW 755C, U60,257, and FPL 55712 inhibited the glucose-oxidase-induced lung edema. And U60,257 also inhibited the glucose-oxidase-induced increase in 5-HETE without concomitant inhibition of cyclooxygenase metabolites. Thus, glucose oxidase via generation of active oxygen species stimulated the lung 5-lipoxygenase pathway, and inhibitors of 5-lipoxygenase protected against the oxidant lung injury. Further, in these experiments, the injury occurred in the absence of circulating blood cells and was augmented by increasing the inspired oxygen concentration.

Altering hydrodynamic variables influences PGI2 production by isolated lungs and endothelial cells.

Because deformation of lung tissue stimulates prostaglandin synthesis, we wanted to investigate whether hydrodynamic forces would affect lung prostacyclin (PGI2) production. To test the hypothesis that lung prostacyclin synthesis was flow dependent, we examined lung prostacyclin production after flow alterations. Using a salt solution that contained either Ficoll or albumin as a perfusate, we changed the flow to half and to double the control flow. When flow was changed, lung prostacyclin production followed changes in flow and pressure drop. When flow was varied in lungs treated with indomethacin, prostacyclin production was too low to be measurable. Variations in pressure pulsatility at constant mean flow had no influence on lung prostacyclin production. Since vascular distension may also stimulate prostacyclin production, we increased venous pressure. An increase in venous pressure (from 2.1 to 4.8 mmHg) had no effect on prostacyclin production; a further increase in venous pressure (to 7.5 mmHg) initiated edema and caused a large increase in prostacyclin production. When we subjected monolayers of endothelial cells cultured in wells to defined shear rates, the prostacyclin concentration in the supernatant quickly increased to a maximum. The absence of further increase with greater shear may have reflected feedback control of prostacyclin synthesis. The results indicated that hydrodynamic disturbances affect endothelial cells and stimulate arachidonate metabolism. Lung prostacyclin production may be related to flow. However, this effect is small compared with the lung prostacyclin production during edema formation.

Stable isotope labelled 5-lipoxygenase metabolites of arachidonic acid: analysis by negative ion chemical ionization mass spectrometry.

Purification and analysis of very small quantities of arachidonic acid lipoxygenase products from biological samples remains a challenging task. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry is an ideally suited technique unsurpassed in the analytical figures of merit of sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for the quantitation of such hydroxy lipids as 5-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid and the LTB4 isomers. We have developed procedures to incorporate oxygen-18 into the carboxyl moiety of these fatty acids as well as 12-hydroxyl position of LTB4 and report on the suitability of these isotopimers as internal standards for quantitative mass spectrometry. Furthermore, the enhanced sensitivity of negative ion chemical ionization of the pentafluorobenzyl ester, trimethylsilyl ether derivatives has been examined. The most abundant ion obtained by this technique is the carboxylate anion which retains all oxygen atoms of these eicosanoids. Comparison of the positive electron impact and negative ion CI mass spectrometric behavior is presented.

Synthesis, 470-MHz 1H NMR spectra, and activity of delactonized derivatives of the anticancer drug etoposide.

The anticancer drug etoposide (VP 16-213, 1) contains a highly strained trans-fused gamma-lactone. This functionality is readily metabolized to an inactive ring-opened hydroxy acid (2). To prevent this detoxification of the drug and to investigate whether the lactone is essential for drug activity, we synthesized a cyclic ether analogue of etoposide (3) and tested it in the mouse leukemia L1210 system in vitro and in vivo. This ether analogue of etoposide was found to retain activity in the L1210 system, but the activity was reduced relative to the parent drug. A synthetic intermediate, the ring D opened diol of the reduced lactone (4), was also tested and found to be inactive in the L1210 system. The complete 470-MHz 1H NMR spectra of etoposide and its derivatives are reported. The usefulness of introducing deuterium at C-13 to determine J2,3 is also demonstrated. This coupling constant is characteristic of cis or trans stereochemistry across the C-D ring fusion.

Analysis of the anticancer drugs VP 16-213 and VM 26 and their metabolites by high-performance liquid chromatography.

A rapid and convenient high-performance liquid chromatographic procedure for the analysis of the clinically useful anticancer agents VP 16-213 and VM 26 is described. The drugs, which are semi-synthetic derivatives of the natural product podophyllotoxin, are extracted from plasma with chloroform. The extracts are evaporated to dryness, reconstituted in methanol, and chromatographed on a reversed-phase microparticle C18 column using isocratic elution with a mixture of methanol--water (60:40). Each drug is used as the internal standard for the other. Quantitation to 500 ng/ml (0.85 nmole/ml) plasma is based on peak height ratios using UV detection at 254 nm. Patient plasma concentration versus time data agree well with previously published data obtained using radiolabelled drug. Investigations into the nature of the hydroxy acid metabolite of VP 16-213, carried out using paired-ion chromatography with tetrabutylammonium bromide and fluorescence detection, are described. Also, a unique separation of VP 16-213 and a possible metabolite, the isomer, picro VP 16-213, is described.