TOF‐SIMS study of cystine and cholesterol stones

Two different human stones, cystine and cholesterol from the kidney and gall bladder, were examined by time‐of‐flight secondary ion mass spectrometry using Ga⁺ primary ions as bombarding particles. The mass spectra of kidney stone were compared with those measured for the standard compounds, cystine and cysteine. Similar spectra were obtained for the stone and cystine. The most important identification was based on the existence of the protonated molecules [M + H]⁺ and deprotonated molecules [M‐H]^‐. The presence of cystine salt was also revealed in the stone through the sodiated cystine [M + Na]⁺ and the associated fragments, which might be due to the patient treatment history. In the gallstone, the deprotonated molecules [M‐H]⁺ of cholesterol along with relatively intense characteristic fragments [M‐OH]⁺ were detected. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Dynamic Chemical Network for Cystinuria Diagnosis

The study of molecular networks represents a conceptual revolution in chemistry. Building on previous knowledge and after understanding the rules of non‐covalent interactions, the design of stimulus‐responsive chemical systems is possible. Herein we report a new strategy, based on the reorganization of a dynamic chemical network that generates new fluorescent associations in the presence of cysteine or cystine. The binding and sensing units are encoded in the components that dynamically assemble and disassemble responding to external stimuli as a successful tool to detect both cysteine and cystine in aqueous media. Moreover, the dynamic sensing system works in human urine, as a prospective application for cystinuria diagnosis.     

Measurement of urinary cystine and cysteinyl-penicillamine in patients with cystinuria

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method with electrochemical detection (LC/EC) was developed to measure cystine and cysteinyl-penicillamine disulfide in the urine of patients screened or treated for cystinuria. Urine was acidified, centrifuged to remove urinary protein, diluted and injected. The disulfides were separated on a reversed-phase column, reduced at the upstream electrode of a dual electrochemical detector with gold-mercury amalgam (Au/Hg) electrodes and the resultant thiols measured at the downstream electrode. The sample preparation is simple, the analysis rapid, specimens can be easily batched and the specificity of the method is better than those of two other separative procedures with which it was compared. The coefficient of variation for cystine in cystinuric urine is 6.7%, 5.5% and 3.2% for levels of 0.09, 0.52 and 1.02 mmol/l respectively, and for cysteinyl-penicillamine disulfide 2.6% and 7.5% for levels of 0.45 and 0.98 mmol/l respectively. Urine for analysis of these disulfides should not be collected within 24 hours of administration of the radiopaque agent diatrizoate but no other interference to the assay has been noted. This method is suitable as a screen for cystinuria in patients with renal tract calculi, for ongoing monitoring of cystinuric patients and to check patient compliance with d-penicillamine therapy.     

Spectrophotometric determination of cysteine and cystine in urine

A spectrophotometric method for the determination of cysteine and cystine in urine is described. This method is a modification of that reported for the determination of cysteine and cystine in proteins. The determination in urine is specific and simple. The colour develops at room temperature and no pre-treatment of urine is needed. Other amino acids, urea, uric acid, ascorbic acid, bilirubin, biliverdin, carbohydrates, hormones, acetone, salicylic acid, small amounts of protein and other common components of urine do not interfere. The method is particularly suitable for the diagnosis of hepatic cystinuria and other diseases characterised by high sulphur-containing amino acids in urine.     

Determination of peptides and proteins in human urine with capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry, a suitable tool for the establishment of new diagnostic markers

The on-line coupling of capillary electrophoresis (CE) with electrospray-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MS) has been used to obtain patterns of peptides and proteins present in the urine of healthy human individuals. This led to the establishment of a "normal urine polypeptide pattern", consisting of 247 polypeptides, each of which was found in more than 50% of healthy individuals. Applying CE-MS to the analysis of urine of patients with kidney disease revealed differences in polypeptide pattern. Twenty-seven polypeptides were exclusively found in samples of patients. Another 13, present in controls, were missing. These data indicate that CE-MS can be applied as powerful tool in clinical diagnostics.     

Differentiation of human kidney stones induced by melamine and uric acid using surface desorption atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry

Clinically obtained human kidney stones of different pathogenesis were dissolved in acetic acid/methanol solutions and then rapidly analyzed by surface desorption atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry (SDAPCI-MS) without any desalination treatment. The mass spectral fingerprints of six groups of kidney stone samples were rapidly recorded in the mass range of m/z 50-400. A set of ten melamine-induced kidney stone samples and nine uric acid derived kidney stone samples were successfully differentiated from other groups by principal component analysis of SDAPCI-MS fingerprints upon positive-ion detection mode. In contrast, the mass spectra recorded using negative-ion detection mode did not give enough information to differentiate those stone samples. The results showed that in addition to the melamine, the chemical compounds enwrapped in the melamine-induced kidney stone samples differed from other kidney stone samples, providing useful hints for studying on the formation mechanisms of melamine-induced kidney stones. This study also provides useful information on establishing a MS-based platform for rapid analysis of the melamine-induced human kidney stones at molecular levels.     

氯丙嗪在大鼠体内的代谢研究

采用气相色谱-质谱法(GC-MS)检测大鼠尿液中的氯丙嗪及其代谢产物,并对其进行质谱解析,推测氯丙嗪在大鼠体内的代谢途径.通过对Wistar大鼠进行灌胃服用药物后收集24 h内尿样,经固相萃取(SPE)净化提取后,采用GC-MS(EI,PCI)检测.对比空白尿液与阳性尿液萃取液的质谱图,并根据质谱裂解规律鉴定其结构.实...     

离子色谱安培法测定尿液中的胱氨酸

建立离子色谱安培法检测尿液中胱氨酸的分析方法。将尿液稀释处理后,过OnGuardⅡRP前处理柱,去除尿液中的有机物,选用低容量阳离子交换柱IonPac CS17进行分离,以甲烷磺酸梯度淋洗,柱后用300 mmol/L NaOH溶液衍生,离子色谱脉冲安培法检测,外标法定量。胱氨酸的质量浓度在0.1~5.0 mg/L范围内与其色谱峰面积呈良好的线性,线性相关系数r^2=0.999 9,检出限为0.05 mg/L。测定结果的相对标准偏差为0.71%(n=6),样品加标回收率为94%~108%。该方法具有操作简单,专属性强,灵敏度高等优点,可用于临床快速检测尿液中的胱氨酸。     

Detection of the R553X DNA single point mutation related to cystic fibrosis by a "chiral box" D-lysine-peptide nucleic acid probe by capillary electrophoresis

In order to recognize the presence of the R553X point mutation of the cystic fibrosis (CF) gene in the human genome, a peptide nucleic acid (PNA) complementary to the mutated gene tract and bearing three adjacent chiral monomers based on D-lysine (chiral box) was synthesized and used as a probe in CE. Binding specificity was preliminarily studied with complementary and mismatched oligonucleotides by UV spectroscopy, electrospray MS, and electrophoresis, indicating a very high sequence selectivity. The chiral PNA probe was then hybridized to cyanine-5-labeled DNA samples (186 bp), obtained by PCR amplification, respectively, from: (a) normal homozygous subjects (wtDNA), (b) CF-affected homozygous subjects (mutDNA), (c) heterozygous subjects (healthy carriers) and denatured at low ionic strength. The PNA-DNA mixture was directly analyzed by CE with LIF detection: a new signal corresponding to the PNA-mutDNA duplex was observed, in the case of CF-affected homozygous subjects, whereas for the sample containing the mismatched sequence (normal homozygous wtDNA) only the signal corresponding to ssDNA (ss, single strand) was detected. In the case of heterozygous DNA, both PNA-mutDNA duplex and ssDNA were detected. With this simple assay, it was possible to discriminate in an easy way among the three cases (mutated homozygous, normal homozygous, and heterozygous subjects) with a total specificity, thus allowing a decisive advance for the diagnosis of CF.     

Simple, Rapid, and Accurate RP-HPLC Method for Determination of Cystine in Human Urine after Derivatization with Dansyl Chloride

An accurate, simple, and sensitive reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method, with loratadine as internal standard (IS) and UV detection at 286 nm, has been developed for deterination of cystine in human urine. The major innovations of the method include use of acrylonitrile to protect cysteine from oxidization to cystine, separation of cysteine, as the dansyl derivative, from cystine, and use of isocratic elution instead of gradient elution to reduce the time and cost of serial analysis. The mobile phase was 0.05 M sodium acetate–methanol, 35:65 (v/v), adjusted to pH 3.5 with 2.5 M citric acid, at a flow rate of 1.0 mL min^?1. The retention times of cystine and the IS were 16.6 and 19.9 min, respectively. The limit of detection for cystine was 0.3 mg L^?1. Extraction recovery of cystine was >85.6%. Intra-day and inter-day precision (RSD) for cystine were below 4.3 and 8.5%, respectively. There was no chromatographic interference from other α-amino acids present in mammalian proteins, or from other urine components. The calibration plot for the cystine derivative was linear in the range 1–500 mg L^?1 and the correlation coefficient was 0.9992. The method was validated appropriately and successfully used for determination of cystine in human urine.     

Proteomic profiling of human urinary proteome using nano-high performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

Urine, a blood filtrate produced by the urinary system, is an ideal bio-sample and a rich source of biomarkers for diagnostic information. Many components in urine are useful in clinical diagnosis, and urinary proteins can be strong indication for many diseases such as proteinuria, kidney, bladder and urinary tract diseases. To enhance our understanding of urinary proteome, the urine proteins were prepared by different sample cleanup preparation methods and identified by nano-high performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry followed by peptide fragmentation pattern. The experimental results demonstrated that a total of 2283 peptides, corresponding to 311 unique proteins, were identified from human urine samples, in which 104 proteins with higher confidence levels. The present study was designed to establish optimal techniques to create a proteomic map of normal urinary proteins. Also, a discussion of novel approaches to urine protein cleanup and constituents is given.     

Metabolic profiling comparison of isovitexin in normal and kidney stone model rats by ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry

Isovitexin, a bioactive flavonoid constituent isolated from Desmodii Styracifolii, is considered an adjuvant for antiurolithiasis diseases. In this study, an ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with hybrid triple quadruple time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry method was developed to characterize and compare the metabolic profiling of isovitexin experimented on normal and kidney stone model rats. The comparative research indicated that 28 metabolites (18 phase I and 10 phase II) in normal rats and 33 metabolites (20 phase I and 13 phase II) in kidney stone model rats were initially identified. The results of relative quantitative determination reflected that the contents of metabolites produced by deglycosylation, reduction, and isomerization in kidney stone model rats were greater than those in healthy rats. Instead, the levels of oxidative and dehydrogenated metabolites in normal groups were higher than those in kidney stone model groups. The results of this study are valuable and important for understanding the metabolic process of isovitexin in clinical application, and especially the metabolism study in kidney stone model rats could provide a beneficial reference for the further search of effective substances associated with the treatment of kidney stones.     

Quantification of cystine in human renal proximal tubule cells using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

Nephropathic cystinosis is characterized by abnormal intralysosomal accumulation of cystine throughout the body, causing irreversible damage to various organs, particularly the kidneys. Cysteamine, the currently available treatment, can reduce lysosomal cystine and postpone disease progression. However, cysteamine poses serious side effects and does not address all of the symptoms of cystinosis. To screen for new treatment options, a rapid and reliable high‐performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC‐MS/MS) method was developed to quantify cystine in conditionally immortalized human proximal tubular epithelial cells (ciPTEC). The ciPTEC were treated with N‐ethylmaleimide, lysed and deproteinized with 15% (w/v) sulfosalicylic acid. Subsequently, cystine was measured using deuterium‐labeled cystine‐D4, as the internal standard. The assay developed demonstrated linearity to at least 20 μmol/L with a good precision. Accuracies were between 97.3 and 102.9% for both cell extracts and whole cell samples. Cystine was sufficiently stable under all relevant analytical conditions. The assay was successfully applied to determine cystine levels in both healthy and cystinotic ciPTEC. Control cells showed clearly distinguishable cystine levels compared with cystinotic cells treated with or without cysteamine. The method developed provides a fast and reliable quantification of cystine, and is applicable to screen for potential drugs that could reverse cystinotic symptoms in human kidney cells.     

Measurement of plasma and urine amino acids by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection using phenylisothiocyanate derivatization

The use of reversed-phase liquid chromatography (LC) with pre-column derivatization for the analysis of amino acid mixtures is becoming established as a possible cheaper alternative to commercial amino acid analysers. The available derivatization procedures all have disadvantages when applied to clinical samples, partly due to the interferences found with body fluids when ultraviolet or fluorescence detection is used. An LC method is described for the separation of amino acids in blood or urine, using pre-column derivatization with phenylisothiocyanate (PITC), gradient elution and electrochemical detection. The use of electrochemical detection of PITC derivatives virtually eliminates interferences and enables the secondary amino acids to be measured. Examples are shown of normal urine and plasma and samples from patients with cystinuria and maple syrup urine disease.     

Profile analysis of organic volatiles in urine of tobacco smoke-exposed beagles

Volatile organic components were determined in the urine of beagle dogs exposed to cigarette smoke and sham in an effort to identify possible biochemical changes resulting from the exposures. The data obtained from high-resolution chromatograms were subjected to principal component and discriminant analysis. Principal component analysis was used to reduce the dimensionality of the data and discriminant analysis was used to develop a classification model. Classification of the profiles into their respective exposure groups based on quantitative variations was 92% correct using only five peaks in the chromatograms. Compounds present in the urine of smoke-exposed dogs were identified by mass spectrometry.     

基于非靶标筛查的超高效液相色谱-三重四极杆质谱法检测尿液样品中的酰基肉碱

建立了一种基于母离子扫描模式的超高效液相色谱-三重四极杆质谱检测尿液中酰基肉碱的分析方法。对酰基肉碱类化合物所共有的m/z为60、85和144的碎片离子进行选择性检测,结合化合物母离子扫描的结果及其对应的保留时间,选取一致性较好的化合物进行筛选,再利用高分辨质谱确认,最终检测到37种酰基肉碱化合物,其中有14种尚未被HMDB和LIPID MAPS数据库收录。该方法可应用于其他生物样本(如血液、组织)中酰基肉碱的定性、定量分析,可作为检测酰基肉碱化合物的新选择。     

Multi-detection of corticosteroids in sports doping and veterinary control using high-resolution liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry

A liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC/TOFMS) method was developed using the latest high-resolution LC column technology, the ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC), and electrospray ionization (ESI) in the positive ion mode. Gradient UPLC separation conditions were optimized for a group of 22 analytes comprising 17 glucocorticosteroids, specific designer steroids such as tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) and specific beta2-agonists such as formoterol. The UPLC/TOFMS separation obtained required 5.5 min only for all the substances tested. Even the critical pair of dexamethasone and betamethasone isomers was almost completely resolved. Thanks to the over 10,000 full-width at half maximum (FWHM) mass resolution and high mass accuracy features of TOFMS 50 mDa window accurate mass chromatograms could be reconstructed for the individual analytes. Sensitive screening in human and calf urine samples fortified at the glucocorticosteroids minimum required performance limit (MRPL) of 30 microg L(-1) (human urine, sports doping) and 2 microg L(-1) (calf urine, veterinary control) could be obtained. The potential of UPLC/TOFMS for confirmatory analysis was shown by determining the accurate mass of all compounds and fragment ions upon in-source collision-induced dissociation (CID) at different energies. The exact mass measurement errors for all glucocorticosteroids were found to be within 6 ppm. Considering veterinary control, limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantification (LOQ) were determined for most of the analytes in calf urine and found to range from 0.1 to 3.3 and from 0.4 to 4.4 microg L(-1), respectively. The method can be easily extended with other banned substances of interest, as demonstrated by the addition of 21 beta2-agonists to the original analyte mixture in urine, without causing any interferences.     

Qualitative metabolism assessment and toxicological detection of xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer and drug of abuse, in rat and human urine using GC–MS, LC–MS n , and LC–HR-MS n

Xylazine is used in veterinary medicine for sedation, anesthesia, and analgesia. It has also been reported to be misused as a horse doping agent, a drug of abuse, a drug for attempted sexual assault, and as source of accidental or intended poisonings. So far, no data concerning human metabolism have been described. Such data are necessary for the development of toxicological detection methods for monitoring drug abuse, as in most cases the metabolites are the analytical targets. Therefore, the metabolism of xylazine was investigated in rat and human urine after several sample workup procedures. The metabolites were identified using gas chromatography (GC)–mass spectrometry (MS) and liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with linear ion trap high-resolution multistage MS (MS ⁿ ). Xylazine was N-dealkylated and S-dealkylated, oxidized, and/or hydroxylated to 12 phase I metabolites. The phenolic metabolites were partly excreted as glucuronides or sulfates. All phase I and phase II metabolites identified in rat urine were also detected in human urine. In rat urine after a low dose as well as in human urine after an overdose, mainly the hydroxy metabolites were detected using the authors’ standard urine screening approaches by GC–MS and LC–MS ⁿ . Thus, it should be possible to monitor application of xylazine assuming similar toxicokinetics in humans.

Capillary gas chromatographic separation of urinary organic acids. Retention indices of 101 urinary acids on a 5% phenylmethyl silicone capillary column

Gas chromatographic retention indices (methylene units) are reported for 101 urinary organic acids as their trimethylsilyl and oximated trimethylsilyl derivatives on a 5% phenylmethyl silicone fused silica capillary column. Using anion exchange chromatography, organic acids were extracted from urines of five healthy individuals, seven patients with neuroblastoma, and nine patients with inherited organic acidurias. Separation of the various acids was achieved by capillary gas chromatography and identification was done by mass spectrometry using a computerized library search program. All identifications were confirmed by visual comparison with reference mass spectra. Standard deviations of the retention indices for all acids were less than 0.035 methylene units and for 46 acids less than 0.01 methylene units. Three chromatograms of urine from individuals with neuroblastoma, phenylketonuria, and propionic acidemia and one from a healthy individual are shown.     

人参皂苷Rb1在大鼠体内的药物代谢研究

人参皂苷Rb1是人参中的达玛烷型三萜皂苷类化合物, 具有多种生物活性. 对人参皂苷Rb1代谢产物的分析已有报道, 在大鼠尿液、粪便、胃和大肠中共检出了5种代谢产物. 本文采用高效液相色谱-飞行时间串联质谱进行人参皂苷Rb1的体内代谢研究, 通过口服和静脉给予药物, 在大鼠尿液中共检出了人参皂苷Rb1的14种代谢产物, 并系统分析和推断了这些代谢物的转化规律和可能结构.