Speciation analysis of platinum antitumoral drugs in impacted tissues

Chemical compounds containing platinum have been employed since 1978 as drugs to beat certain type of tumours. Nevertheless, besides of their exceptional antitumoral properties, these drugs also have important deleterious side effects, such as, nephrotoxicity and ototoxicity.A study of Pt accumulation and a speciation analysis has been performed by ICP-MS in samples from kidney and inner ear in a controlled population of Wistar rats treated with, either, cisplatin, carboplatin or oxaliplatin. The results on Pt accumulation point out to drug structure and not only to Pt content as the responsible for the alteration of organ functionality.Speciation studies in the samples from kidney and inner ear were performed coupling two-dimensional liquid chromatography (2D-LC) to ICP-MS. Size exclusion (SEC) and anion exchange fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) was employed for 2D orthogonal separation. After these separations, free drug peaks were not observed in any of the samples.The binding of Pt to biomolecules was demonstrated by SEC and, independently of the drug used, Pt eluted as two main bands with molecular weights of 12 kDa and 25-65 kDa for inner ear samples, and as two different bands with 20 kDa and 50-60 kDa in the samples from kidney. However, the relative band intensity presented important differences for the three drugs. Using the same chromatographic conditions, it was shown that a metallothionein (MT) standard eluted in the same position as some of the cytosolic Pt-biomolecules.High Pt-containing fractions eluting from the SEC column were analysed by anion exchange FPLC after a preconcentration step. Among the different preconcentration methods tested, sample focusing on the head of the FPLC column shows main advantages. In this way, the separation by 2D chromatography of the high molecular Pt-species has been considerably improved.     

Phenolic compounds from the aerial parts of Clematis viticella L. and their in vitro anti-inflammatory activities*

Phytochemical investigations on the EtOH extract of Clematis viticella led to the isolation of six flavonoid glycosides, isoorientin (1), isoorientin 3′-O-methyl ether (2), quercetin 7-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside (3), quercetin 3,7-di-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside (4), manghaslin (5) and chrysoeriol 7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (6), one phenylethanol derivative, hydroxytyrosol (7), along with three phenolic acids, caffeic acid (8), (E)-p-coumaric acid (9) and p-hydroxybenzoic acid (10). The structures of the isolates were elucidated on the basis of NMR and HR-MS data. All compounds were isolated from C. viticella for the first time. Compounds 7 and 8 showed significant anti-inflammatory activity at 100 μM by reducing the release of NO in LPS-stimulated macrophages comparable to positive control indomethacin. Compounds 3 and 7 exhibited anti-inflammatory activity through lowering the levels of TNF-α while 1, 3 and 5 decreased the levels of neopterin better than the positive controls.     

Sequential injection spectrophotometric determination of phenylephrine hydrochloride in pharmaceutical preparations

A fully automated sequential injection spectrophotometric method for the determination of phenylephrine hydrochloride in pharmaceutical preparations is reported. The method is based on the condensation reaction of the analyte with 4-aminoantipyrine in the presence of potassium ferricyanide. The absorbance of the condensation product was monitored at 503 nm. A linear relationship between the relative peak height and concentration was obtained in the range 0.5-17.5 mg l⁻¹. The detection limit (as 3σ value) was 0.09 mg l⁻¹ and repeatability was 0.8 and 0.6% at 2.5 and 5 mg l⁻¹, respectively. Results obtained by this method agreed very well with those obtained by the AOAC official method.     

超临界流体技术在制备药物输送系统中的应用

超临界流体技术以其特有的优点成为引人注目的制备药物细微粒子及控制释放的药物输送系统的方法。本文介绍了超临界流体沉淀技术的概念、进展及相关的应用。     

High-performance liquid chromatography of some basic drugs on a n-octadecylphosphonic acid modified magnesia-zirconia stationary phase

The high-performance liquid chromatographic behavior of some basic drugs was studied on a n-octadecylphosphonic acid modified magnesia-zirconia (C18PZM) stationary phase. The effect of mobile phase variables such as methanol content, ionic strength, and pH on their chromatographic behavior was investigated. The retention mechanism of basic drugs on the stationary phase was elucidated. The results indicate that both hydrophobic and cation-exchange interactions contribute to solute retention under most chromatographic conditions. The inherent Br?nsted-acid sites and also the adsorbed Lewis base anionic buffer constituents on accessible ZM surface Lewis acid sites play a role in the retention of ionized solutes by cation-exchange interaction. However, especially at high mobile phase pH, the retention of basic drugs depends mainly on hydrophobic interactions between solutes and support. Separations of the basic drugs on the C18PZM phase by a predominantly reversed-phase retention mode were very promising. The mixed-mode retention feature on this phase, as a result of the adsorbed Lewis base anionic buffer constituents acting as sites for cation-exchange, could also be very useful, e.g. for enhancing the chromatographic selectivity of such analytes. The C18PZM seems to be an excellent alternative to silica-based reversed-phase stationary phase for the separation of strongly basic solutes.     

Construction of 4D-QSAR Models for Use in the Design of Novel p38-MAPK Inhibitors

The p38-mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38-MAPK) plays a key role in lipopolysaccharide-induced tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-1 (IL-1) release during the inflammatory process, emerging as an attractive target for new anti-inflammatory agents. Four-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (4D-QSAR) analysis [Hopfinger et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 119 (1997) 10509] was applied to a series of 33 (a training set of 28 and a test set of 5) pyridinyl-imidazole and pyrimidinyl-imidazole inhibitors of p38-MAPK, with IC50 ranging from 0.11 to 2100 nM [Liverton et al., J. Med. Chem., 42 (1999) 2180]. Five thousand conformations of each analogue were sampled from a molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) during 50 ps at a constant temperature of 303 K. Each conformation was placed in a 2 angstroms grid cell lattice for each of three trial alignments. 4D-QSAR models were constructed by genetic algorithm (GA) optimization and partial least squares (PLS) fitting, and evaluated by leave-one-out cross-validation technique. In the best models, with three to six terms, the adjusted cross-validated squared correlation coefficients, Q2adj, ranged from 0.67 to 0.85. Model D (Q2adj = 0.84) was identified as the most robust model from alignment 1, and it is representative of the other best models. This model encompasses new molecular regions as containing pharmacophore sites, such as the amino-benzyl moiety of pyrimidine analogs and the N1-substituent in the imidazole ring. These regions of the ligands should be further explored to identify better anti-inflammatory inhibitors of p38-MAPK.     

A new high-performance liquid chromatographic/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometric method for the simultaneous determination of cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil as markers of surface contamination for occupational exposure monitoring

A new high-performance liquid chromatographic/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometric (HPLC/ESI-MS/MS) method was developed for the simultaneous quantification of 5-fluorouracil (5FU), methotrexate (MTX) and cyclophosphamide (CP) in environmental samples. These compounds, commonly used in the treatment of cancer, are recognized as genotoxic. In order to estimate the occupational exposure of hospital personnel handling these drugs, wipe samples were taken from the working surfaces and directly analyzed (with trophosphamide as internal standard) using a reversed-phase capillary column and MS/MS detection. This is the first HPLC/MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of 5FU, MTX and CP. The present method offers high sensitivity, with detection limits of 1.1 microg l(-1) for MTX and CP and 33.3 microg l(-1) for 5FU, avoiding any sample preconcentration procedure. Rapidity, specificity, high accuracy (mean values between 92.4 and 99.9%) and precision (mean RSD values between 3.4 and 12.1%) make the method suitable for the routine determination of these three antineoplastic drugs.     

Dithiol proteins as guardians of the intracellular redox milieu in parasites: old and new drug targets in trypanosomes and malaria-causing plasmodia

Parasitic diseases such as sleeping sickness, Chagas' heart disease, and malaria are major health problems in poverty-stricken areas. Antiparasitic drugs that are not only active but also affordable and readily available are urgently required. One approach to finding new drugs and rediscovering old ones is based on enzyme inhibitors that paralyze antioxidant systems in the pathogens. These antioxidant ensembles are essential to the parasites as they are attacked in the human host by strong oxidants such as peroxynitrite, hypochlorite, and H2O2. The pathogen-protecting system consists of some 20 thiol and dithiol proteins, which buffer the intraparasitic redox milieu at a potential of -250 mV. In trypanosomes and leishmania the network is centered around the unique dithiol trypanothione (N1,N8-bis(glutathionyl)spermidine). In contrast, malaria parasites have a more conservative dual antioxidative system based on glutathione and thioredoxin. Inhibitors of antioxidant enzymes such as trypanothione reductase are, indeed, parasiticidal but they can also delay or prevent resistance against a number of other antiparasitic drugs.     

不同分子量N-琥珀酰壳聚糖的制备及其与K562肿瘤细胞间亲和性的初步探讨

用化学降解法制备不同分子量的壳聚糖 ,以其为原料合成了系列N 琥珀酰壳聚糖 ,然后用异硫氰酸荧光素进行荧光标记 ,再与K5 6 2肿瘤细胞共孵育 ,通过流式细胞仪检测细胞的荧光强度来确定不同分子量N 琥珀酰壳聚糖与K5 6 2肿瘤细胞间亲和性的强弱 ,为靶向抗肿瘤药物载体的研究提供初步的参考 .结果表明N 琥珀酰壳聚糖和K5 6 2肿瘤细胞间有较强的亲和性 ,随着分子量的增加 ,其亲和性逐渐减弱 .