Determination of the ubiquinol-10 and ubiquinone-10 (coenzyme Q10) in human serum by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry to evaluate the oxidative stress

A method for the rapid and simultaneous determination of ubiquinone-10 (coenzyme Q10, CoQ(10)) and the reduced form ubiquinol-10 (CoQ(10)H(2)) in human serum by LC-MS-MS with electrospray ionization (ESI) in the positive mode is here proposed. High selective identification and sensitive quantitation of both analytes have been carried out by monitoring the transition from the corresponding precursor ion to the product ion. Prior to the chromatographic analysis, serum samples (100 microl) were subject to a conventional pre-treatment based on protein precipitation, liquid-liquid extraction, evaporation to dryness and reconstitution with 95:5 methanol/hexane (v/v). The overall method has enabled to achieve low detection limits--5.49 and 15.8 ng/ml for CoQ(10) and CoQ(10)H(2), respectively--which were estimated with serum. The accuracy and potential matrix effects have been studied with spiked serum resulting recoveries between 92.82 and 106.97%. The proposed method has been applied to serum samples from healthy middle-age women, in which the CoQ(10)H(2)/CoQ(10) ratio has been used as marker of oxidative stress.     

C5-homologization of ubiquinone-9 and ubiquinone-10 using sulfur-containing synthons

Conclusions A seven-stage method has been developed for the transformation of ubiquinone-9 to ubiquinone-10 using sulfur-containing synthons as the key step; the most effective synthon was found to be prenyl phenyl sulfide. The analogous homologization of solanesol and decaprenol using an isoprenyl trans-C₅-hydroxysulfone was also examined.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 3, pp. 695–701, March, 1988.     

Fluorescence studies of the interactions of ubiquinol-10 with liposomes

Ubiquinone-10 plays a central role in energy production and its reduced form, ubiquinol-10 is also capable of acting as a potent radical scavenging antioxidant against membrane lipid peroxidation. Efficiency of this protection depends mostly on its localization in lipid bilayer. The intrinsic fluorescence of ubiquinol-10 and of the exogenous probe, Laurdan, has been used to determine the location of ubiquinol-10 in unilamellar liposomes of egg phosphatidylcholine (EggPC) and dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine. Laurdan fluorescence moiety is positioned at the hydrophilic-hydrophobic interface of the phospholipid bilayer and its parameters reflect the membrane polarity and microheterogeneity, which we have used to explore the coexistence of microdomains with distinct physical properties. In liquid-crystalline bilayers ubiquinol has a short fluorescence lifetime (0.4 ns) and a high steady-state anisotropy. In a concentration-dependent manner, ubiquinol-10 influences the Laurdan excitation, emission and generalized polarization measurements. In EggPC liposomes ubiquinol-10 induces a decrease in membrane water mobility near the probe, while in dimyristoyl liposomes a decrease in the membrane water content was found. Moreover the presence of ubiquinol results in the formation of coexisting phospholipid domains of gel and liquid-crystalline phases. The results indicate that ubiquinol-10 molecules are mainly located at the polar-lipid interface, inducing changes in the physico-chemical properties of the bilayer microenvironment.     

The electrochemistry of ubiquinone-10 in a phospholipid model membrane

The electrochemistry of ubiquinone-10, UQ, incorporated over a phospholipid layer adsorbed on a mercury drop electrode has been investigated over a wide pH range. It is shown that the position of the quinone headgroup in relation to the lipid determines the reversibility of the redox chemistry. For pH <7, the reaction follows a disproportionation route involving the ubiquione radical. There is evidence for the presence of a parallel reaction sequence. The bifurcation point appears to occur for the UQ molecule, which disproportionates after protonation and reduction, in parallel with direct electron transfer to yield the UQ--radical anion. The incorporation of UQ in a lipid monolayer makes its reduction very irreversible for pH > 7.     

Transformation of ubiquinone-9 into ubiquinone-10 by the cuprate version of the Wurtz reaction at the key stage

Conclusions A 10-stage method was developed for the transformation of ubiquinone-9 into ubiquinone-10 by the cuprate version of the Wurtz reaction.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 7, pp. 1612–1615, July, 1989.     

Validation and clinical application of an UHPLC method for simultaneous analysis of total homocysteine and cysteine in human plasma

Several studies indicate that high levels of homocysteine (Hcy) and L‐cysteine (L‐Cys) are independent risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The validation and clinical application of an ultra HPLC method for analysis of Hcy and L‐Cys is described. The reported method is simple, sensitive, rapid, precise, and less aggressive than other previously reported methods. The effect of the derivatization reaction time, pH, and organic solvent contents in the mobile phase are described and discussed. Optimized conditions resulted in excellent peak shapes. Results of method validation showed a good linearity (r² ≥ 0.993) over the investigated concentration ranges and were observed for both compounds. The LOD and LOQ were 0.05 μM and 0.15 μM for Hcy and 0.24 μM and 0.80 μM for L‐Cys, respectively. Validation results proved that the method precision was good and the accuracy was satisfactory. This validated method was successfully applied in an epidemiological study to measure and compare the prevalence of Hcy and L‐Cys high levels in plasma of Portuguese type 2 diabetic patients with and without angiopathy. The study results showed that prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia and hypercysteinemia were at least two times higher in diabetic patients with angiopathy compared to diabetics without angiopathy.     

HPLC method for the simultaneous analysis of valproic acid and other common anticonvulsant drugs in human plasma or serum

Summary The derivatizing procedure of Moody et al. [20] for valproic acid has been simplified and applied to the simultaneous HPLC determination of valproic acid (VPA), barbital (B), primidone (PRM), phenobarbital (PB) and carbamazepine (CBZ) in serum or plasma of epileptic patients. The sample is deproteinized with acetonitrile containing esterification agents and an aliquot of the supernatant is heated to 70°C for 15 min with 4-bromophenacyl bromide. The reaction mixture is analysed on a C18 column at ambient temperature, with gradient elution and with detection at 205 nm. The time required for the chromatographic analysis is 13 min; identification is based on retention time and quantification is by peak area determination with an internal standard. The calibration curves show good linearity in the range 6.25 to 100 mg/L. The detection limits at a signal: noise ratio 3, ranged from 1 mg/L for B and CBZ to 2–3 mg/L for PRM, PB and VPA. The method described for the simultaneous determination of the five drugs in the same plasma pool, correlated well with isocratic HPLC methods specific for each drug. The simultaneous procedure described allows a reproducible (CVs6.5% within run) and rapid (25 min for sample preparation: 13 min for chromatographic run) therapeutic monitoring of patients treated with VPA and two or more antiepileptic drugs.     

An improved method for simultaneous analysis of aminothiols in human plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection

Altered levels of aminothiols in biological fluids are thought to be an important risk indicator for several diseases, and reliable methods for the accurate determination of aminothiols concentrations in plasma are thus required. In this paper ammonium 5-bromo-7-fluorobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole-4-sulphonate (SBD-BF) is proposed as a convenient fluorogenic derivatizating reagent for the determination of aminothiols (cysteine, cysteinylglycine, homocysteine and glutathione) by HPLC with fluorescence detection. The reactions of SBD-BF with aminothiols at room temperature are about three-times faster than those of ammonium 7-fluorobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole-4-sulphonate (the most frequently employed reagent) at 60 °C. The derivatives of SBD-BF with cysteine, cysteinylglycine, homocysteine and glutathione are easily separated by HPLC and their calibration curves show excellent linearity over the range 0.05–20 μmol/L with excellent r² values for all analytes. SBD-BF reacts with thiols under mild conditions, i.e. at 25 °C over about 30 min, and is proposed as a suitable fluorogenic reagent for thiol derivatization to be introduced in analytical clinical chemistry. The detection limits of Cys, Cys-Gly, Hcy and GSH at a signal-to-noise ratio of 5 were 0.1 μM for Cys, 0.01 μM for Cys-Gly and Hcy, and 0.02 μM for GSH. Furthermore, validation parameters of the proposed method are quite satisfactory. As an application of this method the determination of thiol derivatives in human plasma was carried out on a number of samples.     

Two different spectrofluorimetric methods for simultaneous determination of gemfibrozil and rosiglitazone in human plasma

Two accurate, reliable, and highly sensitive spectrofluorimetric methods were developed for simultaneous determination of binary mixture gemfibrozil and rosiglitazone in human plasma without prior separation steps. The first method is based on synchronous fluorescence spectrometry using double scans. At Δλ = 27 nm, gemfibrozil yields detectable signal that is independent of the presence of rosiglitazone. Similarly, at Δλ = 120 nm the signal of rosiglitazone is not influenced by the presence of gemfibrozil. Signals at two wavelengths, 301 (Δλ = 27 nm) and 368 nm (Δλ = 120 nm) vary linearly with gemfibrozil and rosiglitazone concentrations over the range 100-700 ng mL⁻¹ (for gemfibrozil) and 20-140 ng mL⁻¹ (for rosiglitazone), respectively. The limits of detection (LOD) were 2.3 and 2.72 ng mL⁻¹ for gemfibrozil and rosiglitazone, respectively. The second method is based on the technique of simultaneous equations (Vierodt's method), in which 258 nm was selected as the excitation wavelength. Two equations are constructed based on the fact that at (λEm₂=302 nm of gemfibrozil) and (λEm₂=369 nm of rosiglitazone) the fluorescence of the mixture is the sum of the individual fluorescence of gemfibrozil and rosiglitazone. The limits of detection (LOD) were 28.1 and 23.63 ng mL⁻¹ for gemfibrozil and rosiglitazone, respectively. The proposed methods were successfully applied for the determination of the two compounds in synthetic mixtures and in human plasma with a good recovery.     

Comparative evaluation of extraction methods for simultaneous mass-spectrometric analysis of complex lipids and primary metabolites from human blood plasma

Metabolomic results on human blood plasma largely depend on the sample preparation protocols employed for protein precipitation and metabolite extraction. Five different extraction methods were examined, which can be grouped into two categories, liquid-liquid extraction and protein precipitation methods, including long-standing protocols such as the Folch extraction and Bligh-Dyer extraction in comparison to modern methods such as the Matyash protocol and two global metabolite extraction methods. Extracts were subjected to analysis of blood plasma lipids and primary metabolites by using chip-based direct infusion nanoelectrospray tandem mass spectrometry and gas chromatography coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry, respectively. Optimal extraction schemes were evaluated based on the number of identified metabolites, extraction efficiency, compound diversity, reproducibility, and convenience for high-throughput sample preparations. Results showed that Folch and Matyash methods were equally valid and robust for lipidomic assessments while primary metabolites were better assessed by the protein precipitation methods with organic solvent mixtures. Graphical Abstract

Schematic workflow of five extraction methods and subsequent mass spectrometry analysis using GC-TOF MS and nanoelectrospray direct-infusion ion trap MS/MS?     

Simple and rapid RP-HPLC method for simultaneous determination of acyclovir and zidovudine in human plasma

Combination therapy with acyclovir and zidovudine is used for the treatment of herpes-infected immunocompromised patients. In the view of the optimal drug concentrations (minimum effective concentrations) for viral suppression and avoidance of drug toxicity, monitoring of drug levels has been considered essential to determine drug concentrations in plasma after administration of a dose of acyclovir and zidovudine. A simple, precise, and rapid RP-HPLC method has been developed for this purpose. Chromatographic separation was performed using methanol-water (50 + 50, v/v), pH 2.5 adjusted with orthophosphoric acid, as an isocratic mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min with an Inertsil ODS (C18) column (5 microm particle size, 250 x 4.60 mm id). Detection was carried out using a UV photo diode array detector at 258 nm. The plasma samples were prepared by a protein precipitation method. The retention time for acyclovir and zidovudine was 3.5 +/- 0.2 and 6.2 +/- 0.3 min, respectively. The method was linear in the range of 200-1800 and 400-3600 ng/mL with LOQ of 200 ng (SD = +/-1.4) and 400 ng (SD = +/-0.9) for zidovudine and acyclovir, respectively, in plasma. The mean accuracy was 98.0 and 96.4%, with average extraction recovery of 64.8 +/- 2.1 and 77.5 +/- 1.7% for lower nominal concentrations of acyclovir and zidovudine, respectively.     

Liquid chromatographic-mass spectrometric assay for simultaneous pyrimethamine and sulfadoxine determination in human plasma samples

We present a liquid chromatographic-mass spectrometric assay for the simultaneous determination of sulfadoxine and pyrimethamine in human plasma samples. Sample clean-up was achieved by adding acetonitrile for protein precipitation. Gradient elution in only 10 min resulted in high throughput capability. Tandem mass spectrometric detection in multiple reaction monitoring was used for quantification. The developed analytical approach was successfully validated and was applied in the pharmacokinetic evaluation of the bioavailability between two sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine formulations available on the Eastern African market, using a cross-over design.     

A simple and simultaneous determination of acyclovir and ganciclovir in human plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography

A simple high-performance liquid chromatographic method was developed for the simultaneous determination of the therapeutic levels of acyclovir and ganciclovir in human plasma. After precipitation of plasma proteins with 6% perchloric acid, acyclovir and ganciclovir were simultaneously determined by reversed-phase chromatography with spectophotometric detection at 254 nm. The peak heights for acyclovir and ganciclovir were linearly related to their concentrations ranging from 0.063 to 2.080 micro g/mL. The recovery was 100.48-102.84% for acyclovir and 99.26-103.07% for ganciclovir. The intra- and inter-day relative standard deviation values were in the range 0.186-8.703% for acyclovir and 0.137-6.424% for ganciclovir. The detection limits for both compounds were 0.01 micro g/mL determined as the signal-to-noise ratio of 3. The present method is applicable to therapeutic monitoring during antiviral medication.     

Liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of eprosartan and hydrochlorothiazide in tablets and human plasma

A new, specific, and sensitive RP-HPLC method was developed for the simultaneous determination of eprosartan (EPR) and hydrochlorothiazide (HCT). Good chromatographic separation was achieved using a 250 x 4.6 mm id, 5 microm particle size Symmetry C18 column. The mobile phase acetonitrile-0.1 M phosphate buffer (35+65, v/v), pH 4.5, was pumped at a flow rate of 1 mL/min, with UV detection at 275 nm. The method showed good linearity in the ranges of 0.5-50 and 0.1-10 microg/mL, with LOD of 0.06 and 0.02 microg/mL and LOQ of 0.20 and 0.08 microg/mL for EPR and HCT, respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied for the analysis of the studied drugs in their synthetic mixture and co-formulated tablets. The method was further extended to the in vitro and in vivo determination of the two drugs in spiked and real human plasma. Interference likely to be encountered from the co-administered drugs was studied.     

Direct enantiomeric analysis of amphetamine in plasma by simultaneous solid phase extraction and chiral derivatization

Summary An analytical approach has been developed for the one step determination of enantiomeric amphetamine composition in plasma, using on-line, pre-column solid phase derivatization with reversed phase HPLC separation. The high molecular weight protein components were excluded by the small pore structure of the polymer and washed out of the reaction column before derivatization. Spiked amphetamine in human plasma was extracted and derivatized by the polystyrene based FMOC-L-prolyl solid phase reagent. The derivatized diastereomers were separated on a conventional ODS column with an ACN/H₂O mobile phase. No kinetic resolution or racemization was observed in this solid phase derivatization. Calibration plots and reproducibility experiments were performed to demonstrate the validity of the new approach. Automation of the procedure provided a simple and reproducible method for direct chiral recognition in plasma samples.