Isoquinoline Alkaloid Contents in Macleaya cordata Extracts and Their Acetylcholinesterase and Butyrylcholinesterase Inhibition

An important strategy for treating neurodegenerative disorders is to maintain the levels of acetylcholine in the synaptic cleft by blocking the cholinesterases. Searching for new effective compounds with inhibited acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase activity is one of the most significant challenges of the modern scientific research. The aim of this study was the optimization of the condition for cholinesterase activity determination by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) in terms of concentrations of enzymatic reaction mixture components, temperature of incubation, and incubation time. In vitro investigation of acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase activity inhibition by some isoquinoline alkaloids and extracts obtained from the aerial part and roots of Macleaya cordata collected in May, July, and September. Acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase activity inhibition of the extracts obtained from the plant had not been tested previously. The application of the HPLC method allowed eliminating absorption of interfering components, for example, alkaloids such as sanguinarine and berberine. The HPLC method was successfully applied for the evaluation of the acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity in samples such as plant extracts, especially those containing colored components adsorbing at the same wavelength as the adsorption wavelength of 5-thio-2-nitro-benzoic acid, which is the product of the reaction between thiocholine (product of the hydrolysis of acetyl/butyrylthiocholine reaction) with Ellman’s reagent. Moreover, liquid chromatography coupled with a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer (LC–QqQ–ESI–MS/MS) analysis allowed evaluating the identification of relevant bioactive compounds in the obtained plant extracts. The investigated alkaloids, especially sanguinarine and chelerythrine, and all the Macleaya cordata extracts, especially the extract obtained from the aerial part collected in May, exhibited very high cholinesterase activity inhibition. HPLC-DAD was also applied for the kinetics study of the most active alkaloids sanguinarine and chelerythrine. Our investigations demonstrated that these plant extracts can be recommended for further in vivo experiments to confirm their cholinesterase inhibition activity.     

A New Bienzymatic Biosensor Based on Butyrylcholine Esterase‐Sulfhydryl Oxidase Enzymes

Abstract

Over the last decades, cholinesterase (ChE) biosensors have emerged as a sensitive and rapid technique for toxicity analysis in environmental monitoring, food, and quality control. These systems have the potential to complement or replace the classical analytical methods by simplifying or eliminating sample preparation protocols and making field testing easier and faster with significant decrease in costs per analysis. In this study, a new bienzymatic biosensor based on butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) and sulfhydryl oxidase (SOX) enzymes was developed. This system makes use of the biocatalyzed hydrolysis of butyrylthiocholine to butyric acid and thiocholine that acts as a SOX substrate. Measurements were performed by following of the consumed oxygen level related to butyrylthiocholine concentration in the enzymatic reactions. Bienzymatic system was characterized and applied for detection of donepezil which is a reversible inhibitor of cholinesterase and belongs to a new class of cholinesterase inhibitors having an N‐benzylpiperidine and an indanone moiety, by following of the decrease in biosensor response as a result of competitive inhibition.     

New approach for natural products screening by real-time monitoring of hemoglobin hydrolysis using quartz crystal microbalance

The hemoglobin (Hb) released from erythrocytes is a primary nutritive component for many blood-feeding parasites. The aspartic protease cathepsin D is a hemoglobinase that is involved in the Hb degradation process and is considered an interesting target for chemotherapy intervention. However, traditional enzymatic assays for studying Hb degradation utilize spectrophotometric techniques, which do not allow real-time monitoring and can present serious interference problems. Herein, we describe a biosensor using simple approach for the real-time monitoring of Hb hydrolysis as well as an efficient screening method for natural products as enzymatic inhibitors using a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) technique. Hemoglobin was anchored on the quartz crystal surface using mixed self-assembled monolayers. The addition of the enzyme caused a mass change (frequency shift) due to Hb hydrolysis, which was monitored in real time. From the frequency change patterns of the Hb-functionalized QCM, we evaluated the enzymatic reaction by determining the kinetic parameters of product formation (k_cat). The QCM enzymatic assay using immobilized human Hb was shown to be an excellent approach for screening possible inhibitors in complex mixtures, opening up a new avenue for the discovery of novel inhibitors.     

A Fluorometric Enzyme Inhibition Detector for Carbamate Pesticide Analysis by High Speed Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

A fluorometric enzyme inhibition detector has been developed for the detection of carbamate pesticides after separation using high speed liquid chromatography.

Housefly head cholinesterase was found to have the greatest sensitivity toward the carbamates, together with horse plasma and bovine erythrocyte cholinesterases. The substrate N-methyl indoxyl acetate is used for monitoring of enzyme activity.     

Enzymatic Hydrolysis of N-Acylated 1-Aminophosphonic Acids

Abstract

Penicillin acylase from E. coli (FC 3.5.1.11) was found to hydrolyse N-phenylacetylated 1-aminoalkylphosphonic acids and their esters. Enzyme preferentially converts the R-form of the substrates: the ratios of the bimolecular rate constants of penicillin acylase-catalysed hydrolysis of R-and S- forms of 1-(N-phenylacetaminol-ethylphosphonic acid and its dimethyl- and diisopropyl- esters are 58000, 2600, 1800; these derivatives were shown to have the greatest values of the catalytic constants for enzymatic hydrolysis of all known substrates of penicillin acylase: 237, 148, and 134 s; corresponding values of Michaelis constants are 3.7×10^?5, 6.8×10^?4, and 6.2×10^?4 M. The kinetics of the enzymatic hydrolysis of 1-(N-phenylacetaminol-ethylphosphonic acid was investigated up to high degrees of conversion. The inhibition of penicillin acylase by high concentrations of the R-form of the substrate (with substrate inhibition constant 0.07 Ml and competitive inhibition by the reaction product phenylacetic acid (K_i=3.5×10_?5 M) was observed. Penicillin acylase was shown to possess quite broad substrate specificity among N-acylated 1-aminoalkylphosphonic acids and was found to be capable of hydrolysing 1-(N-phenylacetaminol-substituted 2-phenylethyl-, 1-phenylmethyl- and 3-methylbutylphosphonic acids with high efficiency and enantioselectivity.     

Larval Tenebrio molitor (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) Fat Body Extracts Catalyze Firefly D-Luciferin- and ATP-Dependent Chemiluminescence: A Luciferase-like Enzyme*

Ultraweak light emission was detected upon injection of firefly luciferin into live Tenebrio larvae. A chemilumi-nescent enzymatic activity dependent on molecular oxygen, D-luciferin and MgATP was then isolated from larval fat body extracts by precipitation with 70% ammonium sulfate. D-Luciferin and ATP can be replaced by luciferyl-adenylate. Pyrophosphate is a main product from the chemiluminescent reaction. The in vitro chemiluminescence intensity was not affected by peroxidase inhibitors such as N₃^?_- (0.5 mM) and CN^? (1 mM), attesting to its nonperoxidatic nature but was strongly inhibited by AMP (1 mM), luciferin 6′-ethyl ether (1 mM) and sodium pyrophosphate (2 mM), well-known firefly lucifer-ase inhibitors. Some physical-chemical properties of this enzymatic activity were similar to those of firefly lucif-erase (K_MATP = 195 μM; K_0.5 luciferin - 0.8 mM; optimum pH 8.5; δ_max= 610 nm at pH 8.5; firefly lucifer-ase: δ_max= 565 nm at pH 8.0 and 619 mm at pH 6.0), but the chemiluminescence was not affected by addition of polyclonal antibodies raised against Photinus pyralis luciferase. These data suggest that this chemiluminescence results from a ligase with luciferase activity.     

Conductimetric Measurement of Cholinesterase Inhibition by Some Pesticides

Abstract

In this present work, we have applied the conductimetric method to measure cholinesterase inhibition by pesticides.

When using acetylcholine as a substrate, we have demonstrated, that for a given incubation of 40 mn, the initial rate of the enzymatic hydrolysis can be related to pesticide concentration. In a given inhibitor concentration range, the activity/log (concentration) relationship is linear and may be used for pesticide quantitation.     

An enzymatic method for determining magnesium

The effect of magnesium ions on the catalytic activity of alkaline phosphatases from three different sources in the reaction of p-nitrophenyl phosphate hydrolysis was studied. It was found that magnesium in concentrations of 0.6 ng/mL-20 µg/mL significantly activated alkaline phosphatase from chicken intestine; in higher concentrations (0.02–0.2 mg/mL), it weakly activated the enzyme from E. coli and had no effect on the catalytic activity of the enzyme from the small intestine of the Greenland seal. The strongest activating effect was observed in a Tris-HCl buffer solution at pH 9.8. The activating effect of magnesium on alkaline phosphatase from chicken intestine was used as the basis for developing a highly sensitive and selective enzymatic procedure for determining magnesium (0.6–6.0 ng/mL; RSD = 4% at c _min; n = 5) by spectrophotometrically monitoring the rate of enzymatic reaction. The developed procedure was applied to the determination of magnesium in urine.__________Translated from Zhurnal Analiticheskoi Khimii, Vol. 60, No. 4, 2005, pp. 425–433.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Zhavoronkova, Muginova, Shekhovtsova.     

Regioselective deprotection of the monosaccharide‐bearing thiocyanomethyl group at the anomeric position monitored by reversed‐phase HPLC method

In the current work, the investigation and development of a chemo‐enzymatic approach for the synthesis of neo‐glycoproteins have been studied. This strategy is based on the regioselective enzymatic hydrolysis of peracetylated monosaccharide, functionalized at the anomeric position (C1) as 1‐thio‐(S‐cyanomethyl) group, a precursor of the 2‐ iminomethoxyethyl thioglycosides‐linker for protein glycosylation, catalyzed by immobilized enzymes to obtain selectively monodeprotected compounds. The use of this activation in C1 is the most frequently used strategy for glycoprotein preparation. The selected biocatalysts are the lipase from Candida rugosa and the acetyl xylan esterase from Bacillus pumilus. A reversed‐phase high‐performance liquid‐chromatographic (HPLC) method for monitoring the regioselective deprotection reaction has been developed. The developed HPLC method was used as a fingerprint to follow the hydrolysis of substrate 1 to substrate 1a and to determine its purity and yield. Moreover, the obtained compound was further purified by flash chromatography. The obtained compound 1a was further characterized using ¹H, ¹³C NMR, correlation spectroscopy (COSY) and heteronuclear multiple bond correlation. The resulting product can be used as an intermediate for the preparation of di‐ and more complex oligosaccharides aimed at protein conjugation. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Enhancing enzymatic properties by the immobilization method

Effects of some immobilized carriers on enzymatic properties have been studied. The following results were obtained: (1) When cholinesterase was immobilized on the hydrophobic carrier with either α-naphthylamine, benzylamine, orp-methylbenzylamine groups, the affinities of immobilized cholinesterase for toxic organophosphors, GB (Isopnopy 1-methylphophonofluoridate) and Vx [o-ethyl-S-(2-diisopnoylomino-thyl) methyl phosphonothiolate], were enhanced 60–90 times and 700–1200 times, respectively, whereas the thermal stability of the immobilized cholinesterase increased to 110%. Approximately 82–88% activity of the immobilized cholinesterase remained after continuously operating for 8 h; and (2) Lipase was immobilized on the carrier that was made up of 6% polyethylenimine, 1% alginate gel, and 1% glutaraldehyde. The initial reaction rate of the esterification of lauric acid with lauric alcohol catalyzed by this kind of immobilized lipase was increased 21 times, as compared to lipase powder. About 72% esterification activity of lipase remained after continuous operating for 10 d.     

Potentiometric flow injection determination of amylase activity by using hexacyanoferrate(III)-hexacyanoferrate(II) potential buffer

A highly sensitive potentiometric flow injection determination of amylase activity was carried out, utilizing a redox reaction of hexacyanoferrate(III) in alkaline media with reducing sugar as product of the enzymatic hydrolysis reaction of starch with amylase. The analytical method is based on the potential change detection of a flow-through type redox electrode detector due to the composition change of a [Fe(CN)(6)](3-)-[Fe(CN)(6)](4-) potential buffer solution, which is caused by the redox reaction with the product of the enzymatic reaction. A linear relationship exists between the potential change (peak height) and the activity of amylase. Amylase of a wide activity range from 2.5x10(-2) to 1.2x10(-4) U ml(-1) can be determined by the changing the concentrations of the [Fe(CN)(6)](3-)-[Fe(CN)(6)](4-) potential buffer from 10(-3) to 10(-5) M. The lower detection limit of amylase activity is 6.0x10(-5) U ml(-1). The sampling rate and relative standard deviation are 15 h(-1) and 0.9% (n=5) for 3.8x10(-3) U ml(-1) of amylase. The present method was successfully applied to determine amylase activity in real samples (commercial digestive medicines) with an accuracy of 4% compared with analytical results obtained using the present method with those achieved using the conventional titration method.     

Recruitment of enzyme activity in albumin by molecular imprinting

The catalytic activity of bovine serum albumin (BSA) modified physically by molecular imprinting using transition-state analogue (TSA) as a template molecule was studied. The resultant imprinted serum albumin (Imp-BSA) showed the rate acceleration of dehydrofluorination reaction from (4R,4S)-4-fluoro-4-(4-nitrophenyl)butan-2-one ( 1 ) and followed the type of Michaelis-Menten reaction in ethyl acetate solution. The enzymatic activity of Imp-BSA was competitively inhibited by (4R,4S)-4-hydroxy-4-(4-nitrophenyl)butan-2-one ( 4 ).     

Experimental and Theoretical Approaches in the Study of Phenanthroline-Tetrahydroquinolines for Alzheimer's Disease

The imino-Diels-Alder reaction is one of the most common strategies in organic chemistry and is an important tool for providing a broad spectrum of biologically active heterocyclic systems. A combined theoretical and experimental study of the imino-Diels-Alder reaction is described. The new phenanthroline-tetrahydroquinolines were evaluated as cholinesterase inhibitors. Their cytotoxicity in human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells was also evaluated. The theoretical results suggest that compounds formation in stages can be explained by endo cycloadducts under the established reaction conditions, thereby confirming experimental results obtained for percentage yield. These results allowed us to establish that pyridine substituent remarkably influences activation energy and reaction yield, as well as in acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity. Among these derivatives, compounds with 4-pyridyl and 4-nitrophenyl showed favorable AChE activity and proved to be non-cytotoxic.     

Continuous Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Lignocellulosic Biomass with Simultaneous Detoxification and Enzyme Recovery

Recovering hydrolysis enzymes and/or alternative enzyme addition strategies are two potential mechanisms for reducing the cost during the biochemical conversion of lignocellulosic materials into renewable biofuels and biochemicals. Here, we show that enzymatic hydrolysis of acid-pretreated pine wood with continuous and/or fed-batch enzyme addition improved sugar conversion efficiencies by over sixfold. In addition, specific activity of the hydrolysis enzymes (cellulases, hemicellulases, etc.) increased as a result of continuously washing the residual solids with removal of glucose (avoiding the end product inhibition) and other enzymatic inhibitory compounds (e.g., furfural, hydroxymethyl furfural, organic acids, and phenolics). As part of the continuous hydrolysis, anion exchange resin was tested for its dual application of simultaneous enzyme recovery and removal of potential enzymatic and fermentation inhibitors. Amberlite IRA-96 showed favorable adsorption profiles of inhibitors, especially furfural, hydroxymethyl furfural, and acetic acid with low affinity toward sugars. Affinity of hydrolysis enzymes to adsorb onto the resin allowed for up to 92 % of the enzymatic activity to be recovered using a relatively low-molar NaCl wash solution. Integration of an ion exchange column with enzyme recovery into the proposed fed-batch hydrolysis process can improve the overall biorefinery efficiency and can greatly reduce the production costs of lignocellulosic biorenewable products.

Mechanism of Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Poly(butylene succinate) and Poly(butylene succinate‐co‐L‐lactate) with a Lipase from Pseudomonas cepacia

Enzymatic hydrolysis of poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) and poly(butylene succinate‐co‐L ‐lactate) (PBSL) has been studied by using a lipase originated from Pseudomonas cepacia. It has been found that the drawn fibers of PBSL are readily hydrolyzed by the action of the lipase, while those of PBS undergo little enzymatic hydrolysis. Since the polymer films of PBS and PBSL are readily hydrolyzed under the same conditions, the enzymatic hydrolysis should depend not only on the crystallinity but also on the molecular orientation. The molecular weight of the samples gradually decreases with incubation time, because nonspecific hydrolysis occurs on the main chains of both PBS and PBSL even in the absence of lipase. The enzymatic hydrolysis of PBS and PBSL gives 4‐hydroxybutyl succinate (HBS) as the main product with traces of succinic acid and butane‐1,4‐diol together with L ‐lactic acid in the case of PBSL. In addition, the hydrolysis rate of the carboxyl end‐capped PBS is much slower than that of the original or hydroxyl end‐capped PBS. These results imply a hydrolysis mechanism involving the preferential exo‐type chain scission from the carboxyl terminals.

Mass remaining of various PBS and PBSL samples as a function of time.     

A direct method to visualise the aryl acylamidase activity on cholinesterases in polyacrylamide gels

Background  

In vertebrates, two types of cholinesterases exist, acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase. The function of acetylcholinesterase is to hydrolyse acetylcholine, thereby terminating the neurotransmission at cholinergic synapse, while the precise physiological function of butyrylcholinesterase has not been identified. The presence of cholinesterases in tissues that are not cholinergically innervated indicate that cholinesterases may have functions unrelated to neurotransmission. Furthermore, cholinesterases display a genuine aryl acylamidase activity apart from their predominant acylcholine hydrolase activity. The physiological significance of this aryl acylamidase activity is also not known. The study on the aryl acylamidase has been, in part hampered by the lack of a specific method to visualise this activity. We have developed a method to visualise the aryl acylamidase activity on cholinesterase in polyacrylamide gels.     

Enzymatically Shifting Nitroxides for EPR Spectroscopy and Overhauser‐Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging

In vivo investigations of enzymatic processes using non‐invasive approaches are a long‐lasting challenge. Recently, we showed that Overhauser‐enhanced MRI is suitable to such a purpose. A β‐phosphorylated nitroxide substrate prototype exhibiting keto–enol equilibrium upon enzymatic activity has been prepared. Upon enzymatic hydrolysis, a large variation of the phosphorus hyperfine coupling constant (Δa_P=4 G) was observed. The enzymatic activities of several enzymes were conveniently monitored by electronic paramagnetic resonance (EPR). Using a 0.2 T MRI machine, in vitro and in vivo OMRI experiments were successfully performed, affording a 1200 % enhanced MRI signal in vitro, and a 600 % enhanced signal in vivo. These results highlight the enhanced imaging potential of these nitroxides upon specific enzymatic substrate‐to‐product conversion.     

Reaction monitoring of enzyme-catalyzed ester cleavage by time-resolved fluorescence and electrospray mass spectrometry: method development and comparison

Two complementary methods for reaction monitoring of the esterase-catalyzed cleavage of bis(2-pyridylmethyl)(2-acetoxyphenyl)amine are developed and compared. While enzyme-amplified lanthanide luminescence (EALL) allows for the time-resolved fluorescence determination of the intrinsically non-fluorescent product, both substrate and product of the enzymatic reaction may be determined simultaneously by electrospray mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). Excitation wavelength for the Tb(III) complex of the reaction product is 297 nm and emission was detected at 545 nm, which is the characteristic emission wavelength of the terbium(III) ion. In contrast to other EALL techniques, the presented method allows for the direct monitoring of an enzymatic conversion without any further sample preparation (e.g., rebuffering). For the mass spectrometric measurements the mass traces were set to m/z=306, 328, 348, and 370 for the protonated ester, the resulting phenol and their sodium adducts, respectively.     

Lipase-catalyzed synthesis of (S)-naproxen ester prodrug by transesterification in organic solvents

A lipase-catalyzed enantioselective transesterification process was developed for the synthesis of (S)-naproxen 2-N-morpholinoethyl ester prodrug from racemic 2,2,2-trifluoroethyl naproxen ester in organic solvents. By selecting isooctane and 37°C as the best solvent and temperature, the apparent fits of the initial conversion rates for transesterification and hydrolysis side reaction suggest a ping-pong Bi-Bi enzymatic mechanism with the alcohol as a competitive enzyme inhibitor. Improvements in the initial conversion rate and the productivity for the desired (S)-ester product were obtained after comparing with the result of an enantioselective esterification process. Studies of water content in isooctane and alcohol containing various N,N-dialkylamino groups on the enzyme activity and enantioselectivity, as well as the recovery of (S)-ester product by using extraction, were also reported.     

Pteridines. Part CVI. Isolation and characterization of limipterin (1-O-(L-erythro-biopterin-2′-yl)-β-N-acetylglucosamine) and its 5,6,7,8-tetrahydro derivative from green sulfur bacterium Chlorobium limicola f. thiosulfatophilum NCIB 8327

A new pteridine compound was isolated from green sulfur photosynthetic bacteria, Chlorobium limicola f. thiosulfatophilum NCIB 8327. The structure of this pterin derivative was established to be 1-O-(L -erythro-5,6,7,8- tetrahydropterin-2′-yl)-β-N-acetylglucosamine ( 1 ) from ¹H-NMR and CD spectra as well as from various mass spectrometric techniques and chemical-cleavage techniques. Upon acid hydrolysis of 1 , equimolar amounts of biopterin ( 2 ) and N-acetylglucosamine were produced. The structure of the hydrolysis product 2 was confirmed by comparing its NMR, UV, CD, and MS and its chromatographical behavior with those of an authentic specimen. N-Acetylglucosamine was identified by an enzymatic hydrolysis experiment as well as by NMR and thin layer chromatography. Electrospray (ES), fast-atom-bombardment (FAB), and thermospray (TS) mass spectrometry of 1 yielded an MH⁺ at m/z 441. Periodate-oxidation experiments of the intact molecule 1 and of its hydrolysis product 2 are consistent with the proposed structure. Differential I₂ oxidation experiments with the native compound showed that the in vivo oxidation state of this pterin is its tetrahydro form. We propose the trivial name ‘limipterin’ for this new compound.