Resolution of oligosaccharides in glycopeptides using immobilized Endo-M and ultra-performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

The resolution of asparagine-linked oligosaccharides in glycopeptides was carried out by combination of the transglycosylation reaction and ultra-performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-TOF-MS). The resolution of the oligosaccharides is based on the enzymic transglycosylation reaction with Endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase (Endo-M) isolated from Mucor hiemalis. The oligosaccharides were transferred to a fluorescent acceptor (NDA-Asn-GlcNAc) with Endo-M to produce the fluorescent oligosaccharides. In the present research, the enzyme was also immobilized in the well of a microassay plate by the sol-gel technique. The transglycosylation reaction was easily managed due to the immobilization. Furthermore, multiple use was possible by the encapsulated Endo-M. The resulting fluorescent oligosaccharides were separated by UPLC and efficiently detected by ESI-TOF-MS. Several oligosaccharides in ovalbumin were successfully identified by the proposed procedure.     

Fully automated determination of eserine N-oxide in human plasma using on-line solid-phase extraction with liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

A sensitive and entirely automated solid-phase extraction/liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometric (SPE/LC/ESI-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the determination of eserine N-oxide (ENO), a cholinesterase inhibitor-like physostigmine in human plasma, for use in pharmacokinetic studies. ENO is light-sensitive and the use of a fully on-line process increased the reliability of the assay. Plasma samples previously mixed with neostigmine bromide to prevent in vitro degradation, and tacrine as internal standard (IS), were directly injected into the SPE/LC/ESI-MS/MS system. MS software piloted the overall system. MS/MS detection of ENO and the IS was performed in the positive ion ESI mode using multiple reaction monitoring. The linear calibration curve for ENO ranged from 25 pg ml(-1) to 12.5 ng ml(-1). The limit of quantitation was 25 pg ml(-1) with 250 microl of plasma injected. Precision, accuracy and stability tests were within the acceptable range and just one analyst is required to analyze 50 unknown samples a day five days per week, from the preparation of the samples (i.e. thawing and centrifugation) to data processing. A pilot pharmacokinetic study in three healthy volunteers treated with 4.5 mg of ENO (Génésérine3((R))) showed that the method was suitable for pharmacokinetic studies in humans.     

High-resolution liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry combined with liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry to identify polyphenols from grape antioxidant dietary fiber

Grape antioxidant dietary fiber (GADF) is a dietary supplement that combines the benefits of both fiber and antioxidants that help prevent cancer and cardiovascular diseases. The antioxidant polyphenolic components in GADF probably help prevent cancer in the digestive tract, where they are bioavailable. Mass spectrometry coupled to liquid chromatography is a powerful tool for the analysis of complex plant derivatives such as GADF. We use a combination of MS techniques, namely liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-TOF-MS) and liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-MS/MS) on a triple quadrupole, for the identification of the polyphenolic constituents of the soluble fraction of GADF. First, we separated the mixture into four fractions which were tested for phenolic constituents using the TOF system in the full scan mode. The high sensitivity and resolution of the TOF detector over the triple quadrupole facilitate the preliminary characterization of the fractions. Then we used LC/ESI-MS/MS to identify the individual phenols through MS/MS experiments (product ion scan, neutral loss scan, precursor ion scan). Finally, most of the identities were unequivocally confirmed by accurate mass measurements on the TOF spectrometer. LC/ESI-TOF-MS combined with MS/MS correctly identifies the bioactive polyphenolic components from the soluble fraction of GADF. High-resolution TOF-MS is particularly useful for identifying the structure of compounds with the same LC/ESI-MS/MS fragmentation patterns.     

Chromatofocusing nonporous reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry of proteins from human breast cancer whole cell lysates: a novel two-dimensional liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry method

A novel two-dimensional two-column liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) technique is described in this work, where chromatofocusing (CF) has been coupled to nonporous reversed-phase (NPS-RP) HPLC to separate proteins from human breast epithelial whole cell lysates. The liquid fractions from NPS-RP-HPLC are readily amenable to direct on-line analysis using electrospray ionization orthogonal acceleration time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-TOFMS). A key advantage of this technique is that proteins can be 'peeled off' in the liquid phase from the CF column according to their isoelectric points (pI) in the first chromatographic separation dimension. The NPS-RP-HPLC column further separates these pI-focused fractions based upon protein hydrophobicity as the second chromatographic dimension. The third dimension involves on-line molecular weight determination using ESI-TOFMS. As a result, this method has the potential to be fully automated. In addition, a 2-D protein map of pI versus molecular weight is generated, which is analogous to a 2-D gel image. Thus, this technique may provide a means to study differential expression of proteins from whole cell lysates.     

Nano-flow multidimensional liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry for proteome analysis of hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the top five cancers with the highest incident of a disease worldwide. To understand the mechanisms of hepatocarcinogenesis, proteomics analysis provides a powerful tool to identify proteins that associate with HCC. We developed a two-step procedure for mapping of HCC proteomics. In the first step, in order to simplify the complexity of proteomics of HCC, the subfractionation of complex protein mixtures in HCC into “subproteomes” is presented based on the solubility of protein. While in the second step an automate comprehensive two-dimensional (2D) separation system, coupling strong cation-exchange (SCX) in the first dimension with capillary reversed-phase chromatography (cRPLC) in the second dimension is developed further to separate and analyze proteins associated with HCC. By using this system, complex sample can be injected, desalted, separated and analyzed in complete automatization. The procedure for proteomics analysis was found to be applied for proteins with great molecular mass (>100 000), small molecular mass (<20 000), highly basic (pI > 9.5) and hydrophobicity, which are not well resolved in 2D-gel electrophoresis. In total 229 proteins were identified by using the described proteomics platform. Among them, several proteins related to the process of carcinogenesis were investigated further.     

High-throughput determination of atrasentan in human plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

Atrasentan (A-147627) is an endothelin antagonist receptor being developed at Abbott Laboratories for the treatment of prostate cancer. A quick and sensitive method for the determination of atrasentan in human plasma has been developed and validated using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. A dual-column, single mass spectrometer system is used to provide a reliable and routine means to increase sample throughput. The analytical method involves liquid-liquid extraction and internal standard (A-166790). The plasma samples and internal standard are acidified with 0.3 M hydrochloric acid prior to being extracted into 1:1 (v/v) hexanes--methyl t-butyl ether. The organic extract was evaporated to dryness using heated nitrogen stream and reconstituted with mobile phase. Atrasentan and internal standard were separated with no interference in a Zorbax SB-C(18) analytical column with 2.1 x 50 mm, 5 microm, and a Zorbax C(8) guard column using a mobile phase consisting of 50:50 (v:v) acetonitrile--0.05 M ammonium acetate, pH 4.5, at a flow rate of 0.30 mL/min to provide 4 min chromatograms. For a 250 microL plasma sample volume, the limit of quantitation was approximately 0.3 ng/mL. The calibration was linear from 0.30 to 98.0 ng/mL (r(2) > 0.995). A significant advantage of the method is the ability to employ parallel HPLC separations with detection by a single MS/MS system to provide sensitivity and selectivity sufficient to achieve robust analytical results with a lower limit of quantitation of 0.30 ng/mL and high throughput.     

Amino acid and peptide conjugates of protoporphyrin: preparation and analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography,high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Amino acid and peptide conjugates of protoporphyrin have been prepared by reacting protoporphyringen with cysteine, glutathione and peptides containing a free thiol group under acidic conditions. The conjugates were formed by the addition of the thioamino acids or peptides to the vinyl groups of protoporphyrin during the autoxidation of protoporphyinogen to protoporphyrin and is free-radical-mediated. The conjugates were separated by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and characterized by HPLC/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESI-MS) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS). All the conjugates formed were diconjugates consisting of diastereoisomers.     

Flow injection of the lock mass standard for accurate mass measurement in electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry coupled with liquid chromatography

A method of flow injection of the lock mass for accurate mass measurement using electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry is described. The reference compound is introduced in the chromatographic effluent via a six-port valve placed post-column, prior to the split connector. Flow injection is performed in such a way that the reference elution peak is superimposed in the total ion current and partially overlaps that of the investigated analyte, allowing independent ionization of the two compounds and thus accurate mass measurement with no ion suppression effects. Different lock mass molecules can be injected in a single analytical run to target various analytes. The performance of this methodology is demonstrated in both isocratic and gradient liquid chromatography modes. The molecular ion of the flow-injected lock mass could also be used as a reference for mass measurement of the in-source fragments of the analytes. Good mass accuracy, within 4 mDa of the theoretical values, was obtained.     

Ion-pair high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection coupled to dual electrospray atmospheric pressure chemical ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry for the determination of nucleotides in baby foods

A liquid chromatography with diode array detection coupled to dual electrospray atmospheric pressure chemical ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESI-APCI-TOF-MS) method is described for the rapid determination of five monophosphate nucleotides (cytidine 5′-monophosphate, uridine 5′-monophosphate, adenosine 5′-monophosphate, inosine 5′-monophosphate and guanosine 5′-monophosphate) in baby foods. The method is based on the deproteinisation of foods and direct analysis of nucleotides by ion-pair HPLC using isocratic elution with a mobile phase of 5% (v/v) methanol and 95% (v/v) 0.1 M formate buffer (pH 5.5) containing 0.01 M N,N-dimethylhexylamine (DMHA) at a flow-rate of 0.7 mL min⁻¹. The HPLC was hyphenated with two different detection systems, photodiode-array (DAD) and ESI-APCI-TOF-MS in negative mode. The method was validated for linearity, detection and quantitation limits, selectivity, accuracy and precision. The recoveries obtained for spiked samples were satisfactory for all the analytes. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of nucleotides in different baby and/or functional food samples, as cereals, purees and dairy products. A study was also carried out on the stability of nucleotides in acidified dairy infant food with pasteurized yoghourt and follow-on formulae samples stored at room temperature and at 30 °C.     

Determination of Tripamide in human urine by high-performance liquid chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

Tripamide is a drug widely used in clinical practice for the treatment of hypertension and edema. This work evaluated a screening method for Tripamide and its urinary metabolites in human urine, using high-performance liquid chromatography diode-array detection (HPLC/DAD). Identification of these metabolites was investigated by high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESI-MS/MS) after dosing with 15 mg Tripamide. Acid hydrolysis showed that Tripamide is conjugated in the body. Two suspected metabolites were detected by HPLC/DAD. HPLC/ESI-MS/MS analysis suggested that these metabolites were probably hydroxylated together with loss of the -NH(2) group and dehydrogenation. These results will be useful in confirmation methods for Tripamide in doping control.     

Quantitative determination of E5880 in rat plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

A simple and sensitive method is described for the determination of E5880 in rat plasma. The method is based on high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, using deuterated E5880 as an internal standard. Selected reaction monitoring is employed for selectivity and sensitivity, this in turn enables quantification in a short period of time (within 7 minutes) over the extended range of 0.1-1000 ng/ml with acceptable precision and accuracy. The method demonstrated to be suitable for the quantitative analysis of E5880 in rat plasma. The pharmacokinetic profile of E5880 after a single intravenous administration of E5880 was elucidated.     

啤酒中单糖的衍生化HPLC-ESI-MS测定方法研究

单糖类样品在溶液中非常稳定,难于离子化,不适合于进行ESI-MS检测。采用1-苯基-3-甲基-5-吡唑啉酮(PMP)将糖类物质衍生化,HPLC-ESI-MS在线联用,选择性离子扫描方式对几种啤酒样品中的5种单糖进行了分离检测。检出限可达到80pg。     

Determination of clindamycin in animal plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography combined with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

A method for the quantification of clindamycin in animal plasma using high-performance liquid chromatography combined with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-MS/MS) is presented. Lincomycin is used as the internal standard. The sample preparation includes a simple deproteinization step with trichloroacetic acid. Chromatographic separation is achieved on an RP-18 Hypersil column using gradient elution with 0.01 M ammonium acetate and acetonitrile as mobile phase. Good linearity was observed in the range 0-10 microg ml(-1). The limit of quantification of the method is 50 ng ml(-1) and the limit of detection is 1.3 ng ml(-1). The method was shown out to be of use for pharmacokinetic studies of clindamycin formulations in dogs.     

Improving mass accuracy of high performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry of intact antibodies

The glycosylation profile of intact antibody due to the galactose and fucose heterogeneity in the N-linked sugars was determined with instrument resolution of 5000 and 10,000. After deconvolution of electrospray ionization mass spectra to complete convergence, several extra peaks appeared in addition to the peaks observed in the original mass spectra. The artificial peaks were avoided if deconvolution was stopped after a smaller number of iterations. A standard antibody was used as an external calibrant to minimize mass measurement errors during long-period experiments. Precision of four consecutive LC/MS measurements of the same antibody was 10 ppm (+/-1.5 Da). By using this approach, the masses of 11 intact antibodies were measured. All antibodies containing N-terminal glutamines had a negative mass shift due to the formation of pyroglutamate (-17 Da). Although the pyroglutamate variant of intact antibody was not resolved from the unmodified variant, this modification led to a mass shift proportional to the percentage of N-terminal pyroglutamate. By accurately measuring the mass shift we were able to quantify the abundance of pyroglutamic acid on intact antibodies. Mass accuracy in measuring different antibodies was below 30 ppm (+/-4 Da). The accurate mass measurement can be an effective tool for monitoring chemical degradations in therapeutic antibodies.     

Rapid screening and characterization of metabolites from a marine-derived actinomycete by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry

A rapid and reliable method has been optimized and established for the analysis of the metabolites from a marine actinomycete by high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (HPLC/QTOF MS/MS). From MS/MS spectra, the product ions of [M + H]⁺ were recorded to provide abundant structural information of the mother nucleus and peptide moieties. Using the QTOF MS/MS and in‐source collision‐induced dissociation (in‐source CID) techniques, three main metabolites including actinomycin D, actinomycin V and actinomycin I were determined and characterized by elemental compositions of precursor and product ions (<7 ppm). Additionally, this method provided information about the compositions of the peptide residues and the sequences of the amino acid from a series of fragment ions. It proved useful for the identi?cation of the metabolites in marine samples which have similar structures especially when there were no reference compounds available. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Enhanced mass detection of oligonucleotides using reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization ion-trap mass spectrometry

A new method providing enhanced sensitivity for the analysis of oligonucleotides using an on-line coupled system of reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) and electrospray ionization ion-trap mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) has been developed. The presented method allows the use of the standard gradient elution of 0.1 M triethylammonium acetate (TEAA) buffer (adjusted to pH 7.0 with acetic acid) and acetonitrile that is typically used for the separation of oligonucleotides in RP-HPLC. An added feature of this method is the ability to combine and mix additional 0.1 M imidazole in acetonitrile after the separation column for improved ESI-MS performance. This is similar to the post-column reaction method in liquid chromatography (LC) and the liquid sheath flow method in LC/ESI-MS, both of which offer the advantage of not compromising the chromatographic separation conditions. The application of this new method is demonstrated to afford improved sensitivity for the analysis of oligonucleotides (20-50 mer) via on-line coupled HPLC/ESI-MS analysis and purification systems.     

The characterisation of selected antidepressant drugs using electrospray ionisation with ion trap mass spectrometry and with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry and their determination by high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry

The electrospray ionisation ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS(n)) of selected antidepressant drugs, i.e., citalopram, fluoxetine, mirtazapine, paroxetine, sertraline, and venlafaxine, has been investigated. Sequential product ion fragmentation experiments (MS(n)) have been performed in order to elucidate the degradation pathways for the [M+H](+) ions and their predominant product ions. These MS(n) experiments show certain characteristic fragmentations in that functional groups are generally cleaved from the ring systems as molecules such as H(2)O, amines and phenols. When an aromatic entity is present in a drug molecule together with a nitrogen-containing saturated ring structure as with mirtazapine, fragmentation initially occurs at the latter ring with the former being predictably resistant to fragmentation. Also, when an amine-containing drug molecule such as fluoxetine also contains a functional group, which liberates a phenol with a significantly lower DeltaH(f) (0) value than that of the corresponding amine, the phenol is preferentially liberated. The structures of product ions proposed for ESI-MS(n) can be supported by electrospray ionisation quadrupole-time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-QToF-MS/MS). These molecules can be identified and determined in mixtures at low ng/mL concentrations by the application of high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESI-MS(2)), which can also be used for their analysis in hair samples.     

Quantification of cow milk adulteration in goat milk using high-performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

A method was developed for the quantification of cow milk adulteration in goat milk, based on solvent separation of whey proteins followed by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESI-MS). The presence of cow milk was determined using beta-lactoglobulin whey protein as the molecular marker. The adulterants were identified using both retention time and molecular mass derived from multiply charged molecular ions. Standard solutions containing cow and goat milk in different volume ratios were prepared and analyzed. Good linearity covering cow milk content from 5% and above was obtained. The proposed method identifies the adulterants using accurate molecular masses for protein identification and detects the addition of cow milk to goat milk at levels as low as 5%.     

Multi-anode detection in electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

An electrospray ionization ion source coupled to a time-of-flight mass analyzer incorporating a multi-anode time-to-digital converter is described. High-speed data acquisition (kHz mass spectral acquisition) rates are achieved. The four-anode detector produces a significant increase in detection/counting efficiency over that for a single-anode detector. In this work a 2.5 times increase in detection efficiency is demonstrated. The multi-anode detector is also used as a diagnostic tool to optimize transmission of the ion optics.