液相色谱-质谱在阿尔茨海默病研究中的应用

液相色谱-质谱联用（LC-MS）作为集高效分离与定性定量检测为一体的联用技术,近年来在化学、医学、药学和生物化学等领域获得了长足的发展,特别是由科研领域拓展到临床诊断,开启了疾病诊断技术的新篇章。阿尔茨海默病（Alzheimer’s disease,AD）,又称老年性痴呆症,是现代社会第四大致死疾病。随着我国人口的快速老龄化,重视对AD的防治是实现健康老龄化以及国民经济持续发展的重要保障之一。本文对LC-MS的新进展进行了简介,并详细综述了近3年来其在AD研究中的应用,以期相关方法获得更好的理解与更多的关注。     

基于质谱检测的相关色谱技术在阿尔茨海默病诊断中的应用

随着世界老年人口的急速增长,阿尔茨海默病发病人数也逐年增多,已成为继心脑血管疾病和恶性肿瘤之后威胁人类健康的“第三大杀手”。疾病的诊断和治疗同等重要,阿尔茨海默病诊断通常依靠典型的临床特征、神经影像技术以及检测疾病相关的生物标志物等。近些年来蛋白质组学和质谱技术迅速发展,可以利用这些技术寻找到与疾病相关的特异性的蛋白质分子作为早期诊断的生物标志物。本文就此进行了综述,主要包括基于蛋白质组学的诊断标志物的筛选和基于质谱检测的色谱技术在阿尔茨海默病诊断中的应用,引用文献34篇。     

毛细管电泳法测定天麻素对乙酰胆碱酯酶活性的抑制

阿尔茨海默症（AD）是引起中老年人痴呆最常见的疾病。目前治疗AD的药物主要为乙酰胆碱酯酶抑制剂（AChEI）。建立快速地从天然产物中筛选AChEI的方法,将对临床治疗AD产生积极的作用。该研究建立了一种简单可靠的AChEI筛选新方法。通过海美溴铵在毛细管内壁形成一段正电荷涂层,再经过离子吸附作用制备1.5 cm长的乙酰胆碱酯酶（AChE）反应器。底物碘化乙酰硫代胆碱在0.015 MPa压力下进样10 s,在微酶反应器中停留1 min后采用毛细管电泳（CE）法对底物和酶解产物进行分离。天麻素是天麻的重要药效成分之一,对AChE具有抑制作用。该研究以天麻素为例,根据加入药物前后酶解产物峰面积的差异,完成天麻素对AChE活性的抑制能力的测定。结果表明,随着天麻素浓度的增加,产物峰面积逐渐减小,对AChE的活性抑制变大。该方法所建微酶反应器产物峰面积的RSD值小于5.3%,可连续使用300次。当天麻素浓度为5.24 μmol/L时,对AChE活性抑制率达到64.8%。根据加入不同浓度天麻素时的抑制率,测定出天麻素的IC₅₀值为（2.26±0.14）μmol/L（R²=0.9983）。与传统紫外分光光度法所得结果（2.09±0.18）μmol/L吻合较好。固定化酶微反应器的活性变差时,可以洗脱掉固定在柱上的AChE,重复酶的固定化步骤即可完成再生。该方法简单、高效,运行成本低,柱上固定的AChE酶反应器稳定性较好,可重复使用,极大地提高了工作效率,未来有望应用于各类AChEI的高通量筛选,对AD药物的研发具有积极作用。     

Advanced polymeric dendrimers in the management of Alzheimer's disease

In recent years, advanced polymeric dendrimers have emerged as a promising avenue for AD management. Dendrimers are highly branched, three-dimensional macromolecules with precise nanoarchitectures, making them ideal candidates for the delivery of therapeutic agents and diagnostic tools. Their unique properties, such as well-defined size, multifunctionality, and controlled surface chemistry, allow for the design of targeted and highly efficient drug delivery systems and diagnostic probes. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the potential applications of advanced polymeric dendrimers in the management of Alzheimer's disease. We explored their role in drug delivery, diagnostics, and other therapeutic interventions for AD. Additionally, we will delve into the challenges and opportunities in utilizing dendrimers as a key player in the battle against this devastating disease. The review will begin by discussing the current state of Alzheimer's disease, including its pathological features, clinical manifestations, and existing treatment strategies. It will then transition to an in-depth examination of polymeric dendrimers, highlighting their structural characteristics, synthesis methods, and biocompatibility. Subsequently, the review will delve into the various ways in which dendrimers can be tailored for AD management, including drug encapsulation and delivery, enhanced blood–brain barrier penetration, and targeted diagnostic imaging. Furthermore, we explored the potential benefits of dendrimer-based therapies, such as improved drug efficacy, reduced side effects, and enhanced patient compliance. The review will also address the challenges associated with dendrimer-based approaches, including toxicity concerns, regulatory hurdles, and the need for rigorous clinical evaluation.     

Studies of potential cerebrospinal fluid molecular markers for Alzheimer's disease

There is a need for a reliable, molecular-based ante mortem diagnostic test for Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, we examined the use of two-dimensional protein electrophoresis for generating molecular barcodes which may be useful for the clinical differentiation of AD patients from normals. We compared cerebrospinal fluid samples taken from AD patients with confirmed post mortem pathology to comparable specimens from normal volunteers. Using canonical correlation analysis, a panel of nine molecular markers were identified which segregated diseased cases from normal controls. Using the scaled volume image analysis variable, a principal factor analysis was also used to distinguish normal from AD spinal fluid, based on molecular markers identified using a heuristic clustering algorithm. The use of panels of molecular markers derived from proteomic analysis may offer the best prospect for developing molecular diagnostic tests for complex neurodegenerative disorders such as AD.     

抗阿尔兹海默症藏药三味豆蔻汤的化学成分分析研究

三味豆蔻汤作为藏药的经典方剂,由药材豆蔻、香旱芹、荜茇和牦牛奶熬煮制成,其对阿尔兹海默症(Alzheimer's disease,AD)具有一定的治疗作用.该方剂化学成分复杂且极性、挥发性差异大,相关的物质基础研究较少.该研究分别采用气相色谱-质谱(GC-MS)、超高效液相色谱-高分辨串联质谱(UPLC-HRMS/MS...     

Structural bioinformatics-based identification of putative plant based lead compounds for Alzheimer Disease Therapy

Plant based lead compounds have been historically incredible as a source of therapeutic agents for various complex disorders including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). AD is one of the leading neurodegenerative disorder in which the underlying risk factors remain largely unclear and presently, there is no disease modifying treatment available. Despite its potential, to date only few compounds have entered for clinical trials. Herein, we described the identification of plant based lead compounds for treatment of AD through an integrative approach of pharmacokinetics and structure bioinformatics approach. In particular we performed screening of lead compounds from 3 traditional medicinal plants namely Withania somnifera, Bacopa monnieri and Morus alba, which are known to have potential for treatment of neurodegenerative disease. We retrieved a total of 210 plant based compounds of which 21 compounds were screened based on their pharmacokinetic properties. Further, Docking study against 7 known AD associated targets were carried out to identify the binding sites and direct interacting residues. In addition we investigate the stable and reliable binding mechanism of top such plant compounds against 3 targets through molecular docking followed by Molecular Dynamic(MD) simulation. The results obtained in the study revealed that 3 drug compounds namely Morusin (MRSN), Withanone (WTHN) and 27-Hydroxywithanolide B (HWTHN) were identified as putative lead compounds against mono amine oxidase (MAOB), Beta-secretase 1(BACE1) and phosphodiesterase 4D.     

Detection of Aβ Monomers and Oligomers: Early Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD), as the most common progressive neurodegenerative disorder, is pathologically characterized by deposition of extracellular plaque composed of amyloid‐β peptide (Aβ). Different assembled states of Aβ have been considered as both important biomarkers and drug targets for the diagnosis and therapy of AD. Recent studies demonstrate that small, diffusible Aβ oligomers formed by aggregation of Aβ monomers are the major toxic agents in AD. Therefore, the development of reliable assays for Aβ (both monomers and oligomers) will be important for the early differential diagnosis of dementia, predicting the progression of AD, as well as monitoring the effectiveness of novel anti‐Aβ drugs for AD. In this review, we summarize the recent progress made in the development of techniques for detection of Aβ monomers and oligomers. In particular, the principles governing the design of these sensors are classified and summarized. Moreover, the advantages and disadvantages of the assays are evaluated. This review also discusses the improvements and challenges for application of these assays in the early diagnosis of AD.     

An ensemble learning framework for potential miRNA-disease association prediction with positive-unlabeled data

To explore the pathogenic mechanisms of MicroRNA (miRNA) on diverse diseases, many researchers have concentrated on discovering the potential associations between miRNA and disease using machine learning methods. However, the prediction accuracy of supervised machine learning methods is limited by lacking of experimentally-validated uncorrelated miRNA-disease pairs. Without these negative samples, training a highly accurate model is much more difficult. Different from traditional miRNA-disease prediction models using randomly selected unknown samples as negative training samples, we propose an ensemble learning framework to solve this positive-unlabeled (PU) learning problem. The framework incorporates two steps, i.e., a novel semi-supervised Kmeans (SS-Kmeans) to extract reliable negative samples from unknown miRNA-disease pairs and subagging method to generate diverse training sample sets to make full use of those reliable negative samples for ensemble learning. Combined with effective random vector functional link (RVFL) network as prediction model, the proposed framework showed superior prediction accuracy comparing with other popular approaches. A case study on lung and gastric neoplasms further confirms the framework’s efficacy at identifying miRNA disease associations.     

Identification of novel biomarker candidates by differential peptidomics analysis of cerebrospinal fluid in Alzheimer's disease

The objective of this work was the application of peptidomics technologies for the detection and identification of reliable and robust biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease (AD) contributing to facilitate and further improve the diagnosis of AD. Using a new method for the comprehensive and comparative profiling of peptides, the differential peptide display (DPD), 312 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from AD patients, cognitively unimpaired subjects and from patients suffering from other primary dementia disorders were analysed as four independent analytical sets. By combination with a cross validation procedure, candidates were selected from a total of more than 6,000 different peptide signals based on their discriminating power. Twelve candidates were identified using mass-spectrometric techniques as fragments of the possibly neuroprotective neuroendocrine protein VGF and another one as the complement factor C3 descendent C3f. The combination of peptide profiling and cross validation resulted in the detection of novel potential biomarkers with remarkable robustness and a close relation to AD pathophysiology.     

In silico prediction and screening of γ‐secretase inhibitors by molecular descriptors and machine learning methods

γ‐Secretase inhibitors have been explored for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Methods for prediction and screening of γ‐secretase inhibitors are highly desired for facilitating the design of novel therapeutic agents against AD, especially when incomplete knowledge about the mechanism and three‐dimensional structure of γ‐secretase. We explored two machine learning methods, support vector machine (SVM) and random forest (RF), to develop models for predicting γ‐secretase inhibitors of diverse structures. Quantitative analysis of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was performed to further examine and optimize the models. Especially, the Youden index (YI) was initially introduced into the ROC curve of RF so as to obtain an optimal threshold of probability for prediction. The developed models were validated by an external testing set with the prediction accuracies of SVM and RF 96.48 and 98.83% for γ‐secretase inhibitors and 98.18 and 99.27% for noninhibitors, respectively. The different feature selection methods were used to extract the physicochemical features most relevant to γ‐secretase inhibition. To the best of our knowledge, the RF model developed in this work is the first model with a broad applicability domain, based on which the virtual screening of γ‐secretase inhibitors against the ZINC database was performed, resulting in 368 potential hit candidates. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2010     

硒化聚甘露糖醛酸的合成及抗阿尔茨海默症细胞氧化与凋亡

以聚甘露糖醛酸为原料, 采用先磺化、 再硒化的方法合成了硒化聚甘露糖醛酸, 产率为54%, 产物硒含量为437.25 μg/g. 在2.5 μmol/L硒浓度下, 硒化聚甘露糖醛酸促细胞生长能力达到最适范围, 能保护细胞免受过氧化氢损伤, 显著提高阿尔茨海默症(AD)模型细胞N2a-APP695-sw中的超氧化物歧化酶和谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶的活性, 降低细胞内活性氧自由基, 增加线粒体膜电位, 抑制细胞色素C的释放, 在促进Bcl-2表达的同时抑制Bax的表达, 从而具有抑制AD细胞凋亡的功能. 硒化聚甘露糖醛酸也能抑制AD病理相关蛋白BACE1和APP的表达. 结果表明, 硒化聚甘露糖醛酸在抗AD方面具有潜在的应用前景.     

气相色谱-质谱法测定乳制品中光引发剂异丙基硫杂蒽酮的残留量

建立了采用气相色谱（GC）-质谱(MS)检测由包装材料迁移到乳制品中的光引发剂异丙基硫杂蒽酮残留量的方法。使用氘代蒽为内标,样品经Carrez试剂除蛋白质后用丙酮-正己烷(体积比为1∶1)提取,上层提取液用氟罗里硅土固相萃取小柱净化。采用单四极杆质谱进行样品筛选和定量,选取的监测离子为m/z 184,m/z 224,m/z 239,m/z 254(异丙基硫杂蒽酮)和m/z 80,m/z 94,m/z 188,m/z 160(氘代蒽)。疑似样品采用离子阱串联质谱法进行确证,选取的母离子和子离子分别为m/z 254,m/z 239(异丙基硫杂蒽酮)和m/z 188,m/z 160(氘代蒽)。本方法的测定低限(LOQ)分别为7.0 μg/L(GC-MS)和5.0 μg/L(GC-MS/MS),回收率为74.9%~89.6%。采用该方法对11种不同类型的乳制品进行了检测,发现了两例阳性样品。     

Polymeric complements to the Alzheimer's disease biomarker β-amyloid isoforms Aβ1-40 and Aβ1-42 for blood serum analysis under denaturing conditions

Treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is plagued by a lack of practical and reliable methods allowing early diagnosis of the disease. We here demonstrate that robust receptors prepared by molecular imprinting successfully address current limitations of biologically derived receptors in displaying affinity for hydrophobic peptide biomarkers for AD under denaturing conditions. C-terminal epitope-imprinted polymers showing enhanced binding affinity for Aβ1-42 were first identified from a 96-polymer combinatorial library. This information was then used to synthesize molecularly imprinted polymers for both of the β-amyloid (Aβ) isoforms and a corresponding nonimprinted polymer. A solid-phase extraction method was developed to be compatible with sample loading under conditions of complete protein denaturation. This resulted in a method capable of quantitatively and selectively enriching a shorter C-terminal peptide corresponding to the sequences Aβ33-40 and Aβ33-42 as well as the full-length sequence Aβ1-40 and Aβ1-42 from a 4 M guanidinum chloride solution. Application of the method to serum allowed selective, high-recovery extraction of both biomarkers at spiking levels marginally higher than clinically relevant concentrations found in cerebrospinal fluid.     

An Electrochemiluminescence Biosensor for the Detection of Alzheimer’s Tau Protein Based on Gold Nanostar Decorated Carbon Nitride Nanosheets

Human Tau protein is the most reliable biomarker for the prediction of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the assay to detect low concentrations of tau protein in serum is a great challenge for the early diagnosis of AD. This paper reports an electrochemiluminescence (ECL) immunosensor for Tau protein in serum samples. Gold nanostars (AuNSs) decorated on carbon nitride nanosheets (AuNS@g-CN nanostructure) show highly strong and stable ECL activity compared to pristine CN nanosheets due to the electrocatalytic and surface plasmon effects of AuNSs. As a result of the strong electromagnetic field at branches, AuNSs showed a better ECL enhancement effect than their spherical counterpart. For the fabrication of a specific immunosensor, immobilized AuNSs were functionalized with a monoclonal antibody specific for Tau protein. In the presence of Tau protein, the ECL intensity of the immunosensor decreased considerably. Under the optimal conditions, this ECL based immunosensor exhibits a dynamic linear range from 0.1 to 100 ng mL⁻¹ with a low limit of detection of 0.034 ng mL⁻¹. The LOD is less than the Tau level in human serum; thus, this study provides a useful method for the determination of Tau. The fabricated ECL immunosensor was successfully applied to the detection of Tau, the biomarker in serum samples. Therefore, the present approach is very promising for application in diagnosing AD within the early stages of the disease.     

New Multifunctional Agents Based on Conjugates of 4-Amino-2,3-polymethylenequinoline and Butylated Hydroxytoluene for Alzheimer’s Disease Treatment

New hybrids of 4-amino-2,3-polymethylenequinoline with different sizes of the aliphatic ring linked to butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) by enaminoalkyl (7) or aminoalkyl (8) spacers were synthesized as potential multifunctional agents for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) treatment. All compounds were potent inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) with selectivity toward BChE. Lead compound 8c, 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-{[2-(7,8,9,10- tetrahydro-6H-cyclohepta[b]quinolin-11-ylamino)-ethylimino]-methyl}-phenol exhibited an IC₅₀(AChE) = 1.90 ± 0.16 µM, IC₅₀(BChE) = 0.084 ± 0.008 µM, and 13.6 ± 1.2% propidium displacement at 20 μM. Compounds possessed low activity against carboxylesterase, indicating likely absence of clinically unwanted drug-drug interactions. Kinetics were consistent with mixed-type reversible inhibition of both cholinesterases. Docking indicated binding to catalytic and peripheral AChE sites; peripheral site binding along with propidium displacement suggest the potential of the hybrids to block AChE-induced β-amyloid aggregation, a disease-modifying effect. Compounds demonstrated high antioxidant activity in ABTS and FRAP assays as well as inhibition of luminol chemiluminescence and lipid peroxidation in mouse brain homogenates. Conjugates 8 with amine-containing spacers were better antioxidants than those with enamine spacers 7. Computational ADMET profiles for all compounds predicted good blood-brain barrier distribution (permeability), good intestinal absorption, and medium cardiac toxicity risk. Overall, based on their favorable pharmacological and ADMET profiles, conjugates 8 appear promising as candidates for AD therapeutics.     

Multifunctional Small Molecules as Potential Anti-Alzheimer’s Disease Agents

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a severe multifactorial neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a progressive loss of neurons in the brain. Despite research efforts, the pathogenesis and mechanism of AD progression are not yet completely understood. There are only a few symptomatic drugs approved for the treatment of AD. The multifactorial character of AD suggests that it is important to develop molecules able to target the numerous pathological mechanisms associated with the disease. Thus, in the context of the worldwide recognized interest of multifunctional ligand therapy, we report herein the synthesis, characterization, physicochemical and biological evaluation of a set of five (1a–e) new ferulic acid-based hybrid compounds, namely feroyl-benzyloxyamidic derivatives enclosing different substituent groups, as potential anti-Alzheimer’s disease agents. These hybrids can keep both the radical scavenging activity and metal chelation capacity of the naturally occurring ferulic acid scaffold, presenting also good/mild capacity for inhibition of self-Aβ aggregation and fairly good inhibition of Cu-induced Aβ aggregation. The predicted pharmacokinetic properties point towards good absorption, comparable to known oral drugs.     

Detecting Alzheimer's disease biomarkers: From antibodies to new bio-mimetic receptors and their application to established and emerging bioanalytical platforms – A critical review

The failure of therapeutic treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients can be related to the late onset of symptoms and, consequently, to a delayed pharmacological aid to counteract neurodegenerative progression. This is coupled to the fact that the diagnosis based on clinical criteria alone introduces high misdiagnosis rate. The availability of assessed biomarkers is therefore of crucial importance not only to counteract late diagnosis, but also to manage patients at high risk of AD development eligible for novel therapies. At the present time, amyloid-β peptides (Aβ_1-40 and Aβ_1-42 isoforms), alone or in combination with Tau protein (total and phosphorylated forms (p-tau)) constitute reliable AD biomarkers and result highly predictive of progression to AD dementia in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), the earliest clinical presentation of AD. Improvement of existing diagnostic tools must take advantage of innovative bioanalytical approaches. In this review, starting from commercially available diagnostic platforms based on antibodies as recognition elements, we intended to provide a double point of view on the issue: 1) progresses achieved on innovative bioanalytical platforms (mainly sensors and biosensors) by using antibodies as consolidated receptors; 2) advance on promising bio-mimetic receptors alternative to antibodies in AD research, and their applications on conventional or innovative analytical platforms. In particular, we first focused on optical- (Propagating and Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance, named here SPR and LSPR) and electrochemical (voltammetric and impedimetric) transduction principles. Together with bioanalytical assays for AD biomarkers quantification, works aimed to investigate and understand their behavior, characteristics, and roles will also be considered in the discussion.     

供气相色谱仪使用的热导检测器的设计与实现

为了提高气相色谱仪用热导检测器的性能,设计了热导检测器的精密恒流源和差压检测电路。恒流源由场效应管IRF460、运算放大器AD8672和线性光耦HCNR201构成,低噪声电桥差压检测电路由2片AD8597构成。建立了差压检测电路的噪声模型,计算了噪声理论值。实际测试结果表明,该热导检测器的基线噪声达到4 μV, 50 min的基线漂移为15 μV,恒流源波动接近1 μA,优于现有热导检测器的技术指标。所介绍的设计方案和噪声分析方法对热导检测器的电路设计有较大的参考价值。     

New acetylcholinesterase inhibitors isolated from Delphinium uncinatum

The inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), the key enzyme in the breakdown of acetylcholine, is presently the most common pharmacological approach available for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Despite research on the molecular bases of AD, potent therapeutic agent against its expansion is still needed. In searching for natural cholinesterase inhibitors, the present study was focused on the isolation of three new norditerpenoid alkaloids, uncinatine B-D together with known virescenine from Delphinium uncinatum. Chemical structures for all the isolated norditerpenoids (1–4) were established using latest spectroscopic techniques. The isolated undescribed compounds along with known virescenine were testified for their acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity supported by docking analyses. Molecular docking simulation showed that the isolated compounds (1–4) were observed to adhered in the active site of AChE with docking scores ? 13.5322 (1), ?11.8173 (2), ?12.4240 (3) and ? 8.9352 (4) respectively. Overall results demonstrated that these natural norditerpenoids compounds were found as selective inhibitors of AChE. This is the first report regarding the use of bioactive ingredients of Delphinium uncinatum in testing against Alzheimer's disease.