Quantitation of agmatine by liquid chromatography with laser-induced fluorescence detection

A high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method is described for the determination of agmatine, an endogenous neuromodulator. The method involves pre-column derivatization of the sample with a fluorescent tagging reagent, 7-fluoro-4-nitrobenzoxadiazole (NBD-F). The resulting agmatine derivative is stable and can be readily extracted into ethyl acetate at pH 8.5. The extraction enhances the quantification of low level agmatine because it eliminates chromatographic peaks caused by endogenous amino acids. The HPLC separation is carried out on a C₈ reversed phase column and completed in less than 10 min. With laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detection, the detection limit is 5×10⁻⁹ M agmatine. Method precision (coefficient of variation) is 5% for agmatine in human plasma at the sub-μM level. This method has been validated by determination of agmatine in biological samples including human plasma and rat brain and stomach tissues.     

Solid-phase synthesis of a library of C-terminal agmatine dipeptides using a backbone amide linker (BAL) strategy

In this Letter, we report a novel solid-phase strategy using a backbone amide linker (BAL) attached to a polystyrene support for the synthesis of C-terminal agmatine dipeptides. Our method eliminates the need to purify intermediates by column chromatography and enables us to build rapidly an 18-member library of C-terminal agmatine dipeptides which are subsequently screened for inhibitory activity against a viral enzyme.     

Enzymatic Synthesis of Agmatine by Immobilized Escherichia coli Cells with Arginine Decarboxylase Activity

A new method for the enzymatic synthesis of agmatine by immobilized Escherichia coli cells with arginine decarboxylase(ADC) activity was established and a series of optimal reaction conditions was set down. The arginine decarboxylase showed the maximum activity when the pyridoxal phosphate(PLP) concentration was 50 mmol/L, pH=7 and 45 °C. The arginine decarboxylase exhibited the maximum production efficiency when the substrate concentration was 100 mmol/L and the reaction time was 15 h. It was also observed that the appropriate concentration of Mg2+, especially at 0.5 mmol/L promoted the arginine decarboxylase activity; Mn2+ had little effect on the arginine decarboxylase activity. The inhibition of Cu2+ and Zn2+ to the arginine decarboxylase activity was significant. The immobilized cells were continuously used 6 times and the average conversion rate during the six-time usage was 55.6%. The immobilized cells exhibited favourable operational stability. After optimization, the maximally cumulative amount of agmatine could be up to 20 g/L. In addition, this method can also catalyze D,L-arginine to agmatine, leaving the pure optically D-arginine simultaneously. The method has a very important guiding significance to the enzymatic preparation of agmatine.     

Synthesis of Tritium and Deuterium Labelled Agmatine

Agmatine is a promising anti-opioid dependence and relapse drug1~2 discovered and developed by Beijing Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, but the physiological role of agmatine in inhibition of tolerance to and dependence on opioid are not well est…     

Fluorescence-Based Determination of Agmatine in Dietary Supplements

This study presents an optical determination of agmatine at pH 13. The fluorescent product formed between the indicator reagent o-phthaldialdehyde and agmatine sulfate reached its maximum intensity within twenty minutes of incubation time when excited at 340 nanometers. The determination of agmatine sulfate was linear within a concentration range between 6.0 × 10^?7 and 8.0 × 10^?6 moles per liter and the limit of detection was 1.5 × 10^?8 molar. Under the optimized conditions, the fluorescent intensity of o-phthaldialdehyde in the presence of other biogenic amines (histamine, tyramine, putrescine, noradrenaline, etc.) was at least fourteen-fold lower than that of the o-phthaldialdehyde–agmatine sulfate product. The method was applied for the determination of agmatine sulfate in dietary supplements.     

Structural characterization of agmatine at physiological conditions

The present work aims at determining the structure–activity relationships (SAR’s) which rule the biological function of agmatine (4-(aminobutyl)guanidinium, AGM), a biogenic amine produced by decarboxylation of arginine. Its structural preferences, both as an isolated molecule and in aqueous solution (namely at physiological conditions) were ascertained, by vibrational (Raman) spectroscopy coupled to theoretical (density functional) calculations. An evaluation of mitochondrial functions (membrane potential (ΔΨ), mitochondrial swelling, and cytochrome c release) in rat liver mitochondria (RLM) was also carried out. The results thus obtained, coupled to the conformational analysis performed for the distinct polyamine protonation states, allowed to individualize the agmatine structures which interact with the mitochondrial site responsible for its transport and for the protection against mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT) induction, as well as to gain information on the specific mechanisms involved.