Development and validation of methods for the extraction of phenolic acids from plasma, urine, and liver and analysis by UPLC-MS.

This study developed and validated a method for the extraction and determination of 11 phenolic acids in rat plasma, urine, and liver by ultraperformance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS). A system suitability test (instrumental linearity, area, and retention time precision) was performed and recovery, intraday and between-day precisions, detection limits (LOD), and quantification limits (LOQ) were determined for all compounds in each biological matrix. Recoveries varied between 88 and 117% in plasma, between 87 and 102% in urine, and between 38 and 100% in liver. Precision was higher than 13.7% intraday and 14.0% interday in all matrices, at three concentration levels. To demonstrate the applicability, the method was used to estimate the concentrations of phenolic acids in samples from animals that received 5-caffeoylquinic acid (5-CQA) by gavage. The excellent validation results and the applicability of the method to real samples confirmed the suitability for studies on absorption, bioavailability, and pharmacokinetics of phenolic acids derived from foods rich in phenolic compounds.

Recruitment of intron-encoded and co-opted proteins in splicing of the bI3 group I intron RNA.

Detectable splicing by the Saccharomyces cerevisiae mitochondrial bI3 group I intron RNA in vitro is shown to require both an intron-encoded protein, the bI3 maturase, and the nuclear-encoded protein, Mrs1. Both proteins bind independently to the bI3 RNA. The bI3 maturase binds as a monomer, whereas Mrs1 is a dimer in solution that assembles as two dimers, cooperatively, on the RNA. The active six-subunit complex has a molecular mass of 420 kDa, splices with a k(cat) of 0.3 min(-1), and binds the guanosine nucleophile with an affinity comparable to other group I introns. The functional bI3 maturase domain is translated from within the RNA that encodes the intron, has evolved a high-affinity RNA-binding activity, and is a member of the LAGLIDADG family of DNA endonucleases, but appears to have lost DNA cleavage activity. Mrs1 is a divergent member of the RNase H fold superfamily of dimeric DNA junction-resolving enzymes that also appears to have lost its nuclease activity and now functions as a tetramer in RNA binding. Thus, the bI3 ribonucleoprotein is the product of a process in which a once-catalytically active RNA now obligatorily requires two facilitating protein cofactors, both of which are compromised in their original functions.