Evaluation of the pattern and kinetics of degradation of adalimumab using a stability‐indicating orthogonal testing protocol

Forced degradation studies are crucial for the evaluation of the stability and biosimilarity. Here, adalimumab was subjected to oxidation, pH, temperature, agitation and repeated freeze–thaw in order to generate all possible degradation products. An orthogonal stability‐indicating testing protocol comprising SE‐HPLC, RP‐HPLC, TapeStation gel electrophoresis, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and functional receptor binding assay was developed and validated. The assay protocol was used for the assessment of the pattern and kinetics of aggregation/degradation of adalimumab. SE‐HPLC and DLS were used to show the formation of aggregates/fragments of adalimumab under nondenaturing conditions. TapeStation electrophoresis was performed under denaturing conditions to reveal the nature of aggregates. Results of the receptor binding assay agreed to those of SE‐HPLC and DLS which indicated that it can be used as an activity‐indicating assay for adalimumab. RP‐HPLC demonstrated excellent selectivity for adalimumab in the presence of its oxidized forms. The kinetics of degradation was studied in each case and the results showed that it followed the first‐order reaction kinetics. Correlation between the results supported the quality assessment of the tested product in industrial and clinical settings. This orthogonal protocol is a useful tool in stability assessment of monoclonal antibodies and a key criterion for the biosimilarity assessment.     

Assessment of the Effects of Glycosylation on the Pattern and Kinetics of Degradation of Lenograstim in Comparison to Filgrastim Using a Stability-Indicating Orthogonal Testing Protocol

In the biopharmaceutical industry, protein aggregation and/or degradation has profound pathological implications and is encountered routinely during production, shipping, storage and administration. Lenograstim (glycosylated recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor) was subjected to stress conditions, namely, oxidation, pH, temperature, agitation and repeated freeze–thaw to generate all possible degradation products. An orthogonal stability-indicating testing protocol (RP-HPLC, SE-HPLC, ELISA and SDS-PAGE) was developed and validated for assessment of the pattern and kinetics of aggregation/degradation, under the studied experimental conditions. Results indicated clearly that Lenograstim is susceptible to degradation induced by the studied stress conditions. However, Lenograstim was found relatively more stable than Filgrastim (non-glycosylated recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor) which was attributed to the effect of glycosylation. Oxidized forms and high molecular weight aggregates of Lenograstim and Filgrastim were detected in all samples subjected to stress conditions to different degrees. ELISA assay and SDS-PAGE results were generally in agreement to those obtained using SE-HPLC assay which confirmed its selectivity to the intact drug. However, formation of soluble aggregates of both drugs was found to occur via physical adsorption and formation of intermolecular disulfide bonds. Results confirmed the need for an orthogonal testing protocol since it was impossible to reveal all types of degradation products using a single technique. Results raised a concern about the efficacy and safety of such sensitive products and highlighted the need for simple tools to inspect biologics for soluble aggregates and sub-visible particles before administration.

     

Electrochemical synthesis of benzoylglycine and ethylphthaloyl-glycine complexes of transition metal ions

Summary The direct electrochemical oxidation of metallic iron, cobalt, nickel and copper in Me₂CO solution of benzoylglycine and/or ethylphthaloylglycine gave products with high yields. For each of the complexes, the electrochemical efficiency is commensurate with the metals being divalent. Conventional physical and chemical studies were used to characterize the isolated complexes and octahedral geometry was suggested for them on the basis of magnetic and electronic spectral studies. The i.r. spectra show that the ligands coordinate in a bidentate fashion; the carboxylate ion is monodentate. The molar conductances agree with the complexes being non-electrolytes.     

Structural and electronic properties of new fullerene derivatives and their possible application as HIV-1 protease inhibitors

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations have been carried out at the hybrid Becke 3-Lee–Yang–Parr; B3LYP/3-21G** level of theory to study two series of hydroxy-chalca-acetic acid-(4-pyrrolidin-1-yl-phenyl) ester [C₆₀-C₂H₄N-(4-XCOCH₂OH)C₆H₄] and hydroxy-chalcoacetic acid-[2-(2-hydroxy-acetylchalcanyl)-4-pyrrolidin-1-yl-phenyl] ester[C₆₀-C₂H₄N-(3,4-XCOCH₂OH)C₆H₄]. The X atom is O, S or Se for the two series. The vibrational spectra, physical, chemical, thermodynamics and Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship (QSAR) properties of the studied molecules are calculated and discussed. We have evaluated these molecules as HIV-1 protease inhibitors based on the hydrogenation interaction between the hydroxymethylcarbonyl (HMC) groups and the two aspartic acid of the HIV-1 protease active site. Results show that some of the investigated fullerene-based derivatives can be considered promising as HIV-1 protease inhibitors.     

Corrosion behavior of electroless Ni–P/TiO2 nanocomposite coatings

Composite Ni–P/nano‐TiO₂ coatings were prepared by simultaneous electroless deposition of Ni–P and nano‐TiO₂ on a low carbon steel substrate. The deposition was carried out from stirred solutions containing suspended nano‐TiO₂ particles. The Ni–P and Ni–P/nano‐TiO₂ coatings before and after heat treatment were characterized by X‐ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy. The micro‐structural morphologies of the coatings significantly varied with the nano‐TiO₂ content. The corrosion resistance of as‐plated and heat‐treated Ni–P and Ni–P/nano‐TiO₂ coatings was investigated by anodic polarization, Tafel plots and electrochemical impedance spectroscopic (EIS) studies in 3.5% NaCl solution. Ni–P/nano‐TiO₂ coating exhibited superior corrosion resistance over Ni–P coating. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

CZE with On-line Micellar Sample Stacking for Determination of Protein Concentration of Biopharmaceuticals

A capillary zone electrophoresis total protein assay was developed and validated in polyethylene oxide (PEO) dynamically coated capillaries. On-line large-volume sample stacking was employed. Protein samples were denatured using SDS and then injected into PEO-filled capillaries. Such treatment enabled injection of a sample volume of ??8% of the total capillary volume and stacking of protein-SDS molecules at the interface between the sample plug and the PEO plug. Results showed that SDS enhanced the sensitivity not only by protein denaturation but also by forming micelles, in which protein-SDS partitioned. Sensitivity of the method was further enhanced through using capillaries with (tenfold) extended detection pathlength. Such strategies resulted in a limit of detection of 0.26 ??g mL^?1 (3.64 nM BSA). A linear relationship between protein concentration and integrated peak area was obtained over a wide concentration range (8.49?C135.87 ??g mL^?1??R ² = 0.995). The method is particularly useful for determination of total protein concentration in chromatography fractions. It overcomes low UV absorptivity of proteins, presence of UV absorbing additives and high salt content. Contrary to conventional methods for determination of protein concentration, this method does not involve an interaction with a dye. Thus, variations due to differences in surface properties among proteins or due to differences in posttranslational modifications of the same protein are eliminated. The protocol was successfully applied for the determination of the concentration of a biopharmaceutical protein rhMBP in chromatography fractions. This protein has been previously produced in milk of transgenic cows and several charge isoforms were detected.     

Study of the mass attenuation coefficients and effective atomic numbers in some gemstones

The total mass attenuation coefficients for natural beryl, corundum, garnet, pearl, and tourmaline gemstones were measured at 81, 356.5, 661.6, 1173.2, and 1332.5?keV photon energies. The samples were irradiated with ¹³³Ba, ¹³⁷Cs and ⁶⁰Co radioactive point sources using gamma ray transmission method. Total atomic and electronic cross-sections, effective atomic numbers and electron densities were determined experimentally and theoretically. The experimental values were compared with the calculated values for all samples. The calculations were extended for total photon interactions in a wide energy range (1?keV?C100?GeV) using WinXCom program of the most commonly irradiated gemstones with different sources of ionized radiation. The values of these parameters have been found to vary with photon energy and chemical composition of the gemstones. All variations of these parameters against energy are shown graphically for total photon interactions.     

Dielectric spectroscopy of some heteronuclear amino alcohol complexes

The temperature dependent dielectric spectroscopic properties of two heteronuclear complexes of monoethanolamine (MEA) at a wide temperature range (303-413 K) were investigated by impedance spectroscopy, in the frequency range from 100 Hz to 100 kHz. The frequency dependence of the impedance spectra plotted in the complex plane shows semi-circles. The Cole-Cole diagrams have been used to determine the molecular relaxation time, tau. The temperature dependence of tau is expressed by thermally activated process. Relaxation frequencies corresponding to the rotation of the molecules about their long axes are expected to lie above 10 MHz and exhibit Arrhenius behavior, where a single slope is observed with activation energy values equal to 0.67 and 0.78 eV. The ac conductivity sigma(ac) (omega) is found to vary as omega(s) with the index s相似文献   

Group method solution for solving nonlinear heat diffusion problems

The linear transformation group approach is developed to simulate heat diffusion problems in a media with the thermal conductivity and the heat capacity are nonlinear and obeyed a striking power law relation, subject to nonlinear boundary conditions due to radiation exchange at the interface according to the fourth power law. The application of a one-parameter transformation group reduces the number of independent variables by one so that the governing partial differential equation with the boundary conditions reduces to an ordinary differential equation with appropriate corresponding conditions. The Runge–Kutta shooting method is used to solve the nonlinear ordinary differential equation. Different parametric studies are worked out and plotted to study the effect of heat transfer coefficient, density and radiation number on the surface temperature.