Using a new solvation model for thermodynamic study on the interaction of nickel with human growth hormone

Thermodynamics of the interaction between Ni²⁺ and human growth hormone (hGH) were determined at 27 °C in Nail solution by isothermal titration calorimetry. A new method to predict protein penetration and the effect of metal ions on the stability of proteins is introduced. The new solvation model was used to reproduce the enthalpies of Ni²⁺-hGH interaction over the whole range of Ni²⁺ concentrations. The solvation parameters recovered from the new equation, attributed to the structural change of hGH and its biological activity.     

Methodological Challenges of Protein Analysis in Blood Serum and Cerebrospinal Fluid by Capillary Electrophoresis

Summary High-performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE or CE) is an ultrasensitive analytical technique with high resolving power and a wide area of applications including peptide/protein analysis. Its applicability is greatly enhanced by the short separation times, the ease of method development and the minimum sample and organic solvent requirements. Various HPCE modes have been developed for peptide/protein analysis, including capillary zone electrophoresis, micellar elektrokinetic capillary chromatography, capillary isoelectric focusing, isotachophoresis, capillary gel electrophoresis and microemulsion elektrokinetic chromatography. HPCE can easily be applied to quality control of manufacturing processes or to clinical routine for diagnostic purposes due to its potential to provide information on the identity, the purity of the samples and the quantities of the constituents. Furthermore, interactions of a peptide or a protein with other molecules can be studied by HPCE. The separation principles of the various operation modes applied to peptide/protein analysis are presented in this article. Furthermore, in order to exemplify the application of the separation principles in the area of serum protein analysis, which is of importance in clinical practice, the capillary electrophoretic methods developed for analysis of serum and cerebrospinal fluid proteins are also reviewed.Presented at: International Symposium on Separation and Characterization of Natural and Synthetic Macromolecules, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, February 5–7, 2003     

Immunochemical determination of dioxins in sediment and serum samples

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) are considered highly toxic contaminants and the environmental and biological monitoring of these compounds is of great concern. Immunoassays may be used as screening methods to satisfy the growing demand for rapid and low cost analysis. In this work, we describe the application of an immunoassay that uses 2,3,7-trichloro-8-methyldibenzo-p-dioxin (TMDD) as a surrogate standard for 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) to sediment and human serum samples. Sample extraction and preparation methods were developed with the aim to establish the simplest, cost-effective and efficient removal of the matrix interferences in the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The overall method for sediments is based on a hexane extraction; clean up by a multilayered silica gel column and an activated carbon column; an organic solvent exchange with DMSO–Triton X-100 and ELISA measurement. The gas chromatography–high resolution mass spectrometry (GC–HRMS) validation studies (n = 13) revealed that the method is suitable for the toxic equivalents (TEQ) screening of dioxin in sediments with a method detection limit of about 100 pg g⁻¹ dry sediment with a precision of 13–33% R.S.D. The analysis of a large number of samples originating from different sources would be required to establish more precisely the screening level, as well as the number of false positives and negatives of dioxin TEQ by the immunoassay for sediments. The immunoassay method for sediment analysis offers improvement in speed, sample throughput, and cost in comparison to GC–HRMS. Dioxins were determined in serum samples after a simple liquid–liquid extraction and solvent exchange into DMSO–Triton X-100 without further dilution. The current method (approximate method LOQ of 200 pg ml⁻¹ serum) is not sufficiently sensitive for the determination of dioxins in serum to measure acceptable exposure limit.     

Simultaneous determination of 11 drugs belonging to four different groups in human urine samples by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method

A new, accurate, sensitive and fast reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) as an analytical method for the quantitative determination of 11 drugs in human urine was worked out, optimized and validated. The objects of analysis were imipenem (IMP), paracetamol (PAR), dipyrone (DPR), vancomycin (VCM), amikacin (AMK), fluconazole (FZ), cefazolin (CFZ), prednisolone (PRE), dexamethasone (DEX), furosemide (FUR) and ketoprofen (KET) belonging to four different groups (antibiotics, analgesic, demulcent and diuretic). For HPLC analysis, diode array (DAD) and fluorescence (FL) detectors were used. The separation of analyzed compounds was conducted by means of a LiChroCART^® Purospher^® C₁₈e (125 mm × 3 mm, particle size 5 μm) analytical column with LiChroCART^® LiChrospher^® C₁₈ (4 mm × 4 mm, particle size 5 μm) pre-column with gradient elution. Analyzed drugs were determined within 20 min. The mobile phase was comprised of various proportions of methanol, acetonitrile and 0.05% trifluoroacetic acid in water. AMK was separated and determined from human urine using ortho-phthaldialdehyde-3-mercaptopropionic acid (OPA-3-MPA) as a fluorescent reagent by RP-HPLC-FL. The following retention times for drugs IMP, PAR, DPR, VCM, AMK, FZ, CFZ, PRE, DEX, FUR and KET in human urine were found: 4.01 min, 4.86 min, 6.71 min, 8.14 min, 9.46 min, 10.01 min, 10.90 min, 13.34 min, 14.06 min, 16.03 min and 18.98 min, respectively. Excellent linearity was obtained for compounds in the range of concentration: 0.35-42 μg ml⁻¹, 0.5-45 μg ml⁻¹, 4.5-38 μg ml⁻¹, 0.25-25 μg ml⁻¹, 0.5-35 μg ml⁻¹, 0.25-22 μg ml⁻¹, 0.03-52 μg ml⁻¹, 0.15-25 μg ml⁻¹, 0.25-28 μg ml⁻¹, 0.05-18 μg ml⁻¹ and 0.15-35 μg ml⁻¹ for IMP, PAR, DPR, VCM, AMK, FZ, CFZ, PRE, DEX, FUR and KET, respectively. The limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantification (LOQ) for analyzed drugs were calculated in all cases and recovery studies were also performed. Ten human urine samples obtained from patients treated in hospital have been tested. In analyzed samples, one or more drugs from the 11 examined drugs were detected. The concentrations of examined drugs in urine samples ranged between: 1.5-12 μg ml⁻¹ of PAR, 5.2-11.5 μg ml⁻¹ of DPR, 0.13-9.5 μg ml⁻¹ of CFZ and 0.1-8 μg ml⁻¹ of FUR. This method can be successfully applied to routine determination of all these drugs in human urine samples.     

Determination of physiological noble metals in human urine using liquid-liquid extraction and Zeeman electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

An extremely sensitive, reliable and simple procedure is described for the determination of physiological palladium, platinum and gold in human urine. The urine samples were adjusted to pH 4 (Pd, Au) or pH 5 (Pt), followed by conversion of the analytes to their pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate complexes. These complexes were separated from the matrix by liquid-liquid extraction into 4-methyl-2-pentanone resulting in a 25-fold enrichment. Determination was by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ET-AAS) using longitudinal inverse alternating current Zeeman-effect background correction. The limits of detection calculated from three standard deviations of the blank values were 20 ng l⁻¹ for Pd and Au and 70 ng l⁻¹ Pt. Within-day precision (n = 10, 5 μg l⁻¹) ranged 5.2%–7.7%. The procedure is successfully applied to determine urinary palladium, platinum and gold in nine unexposed persons. Palladium levels in urine ranged < 20–80 ng l⁻¹ (arithmetical MEAN=38.7 ng l⁻¹), while gold levels ranged < 20–130 ng l⁻¹ (36.0 ng l⁻¹). Physiological platinum levels in urine were all < 70 ng l⁻¹. The accuracy of the procedure was checked by analyzing a series of urine samples by a second independent method (magnetic sector field inductively-coupled plasma-mass spectrometry) in combination with UV photolysis.     

Molecular modeling of cytochrome P450 3A4

The three-dimensional structure of human cytochrome P450 3A4 was modeled based on crystallographic coordinates of four bacterial P450s: P450 BM-3, P450cam, P450terp, and P450eryF. The P450 3A4 sequence was aligned to those of the known proteins using a structure-based alignment of P450 BM-3, P450cam, P450terp, and P450eryF. The coordinates of the model were then calculated using a consensus strategy, and the final structure was optimized in the presence of water. The P450 3A4 model resembles P450 BM-3 the most, but the B helix is similar to that of P450eryF, which leads to an enlarged active site when compared with P450 BM-3, P450cam, and P450terp. The 3A4 residues equivalent to known substrate contact residues of the bacterial proteins and key residues of rat P450 2B1 are located in the active site or the substrate access channel. Docking of progesterone into the P450 3A4 model demonstrated that the substrate bound in a 6-orientation can interact with a number of active site residues, such as 114, 119, 301, 304, 305, 309, 370, 373, and 479, through hydrophobic interactions. The active site of the enzyme can also accommodate erythromycin, which, in addition to the residues listed for progesterone, also contacts residues 101, 104, 105, 214, 215, 217, 218, 374, and 478. The majority of 3A4 residues which interact with progesterone and/or erythromycin possess their equivalents in key residues of P450 2B enzymes, except for residues 297, 480 and 482, which do not contact either substrate in P450 3A4. The results from docking of progesterone and erythromycin into the enzyme model make it possible to pinpoint residues which may be important for 3A4 function and to target them for site-directed mutagenesis.     

Spectrofluorimetric determination of human serum albumin using a doxycycline-europium probe

A new spectrofluorimetric method is proposed for determination of human serum albumin (HSA) with the limit of detection at ng levels. Using doxycycline (DC)-europium (Eu³⁺) as a fluorescent probe, in a buffer solution of pH 10.2, HSA can remarkably enhance the fluorescence intensity of the DC-Eu³⁺ complex at 612 nm and the enhanced fluorescence intensity of Eu³⁺ is proportional to the concentration of HSA. Optimum conditions for the determination of HSA are also investigated. The linear ranges for HSA are 0-9.2 and 9.2-34.5 μg ml⁻¹ with limits of detection of 64 and 115 ng ml⁻¹, respectively. This method is simple, practical and relatively free of interference from coexisting substances, as well as much more sensitive than most of the existing assays. The determination results for human serum and urine samples are identical to those by the AOAO method, with relative standard deviations of five determinations of 1.1-3.6%. By the Rosenthal graphic method, the binding number and association constant of human serum albumin with the probe are 1.8 and 3.71×10⁵ l mol⁻¹, respectively.     

Accumulation and trace measurement of chloroquine drug at DNA-modified carbon paste electrode

The voltammetric behaviour of chloroquine was investigated at carbon paste and dsDNA-modified carbon paste electrodes in different buffer systems over a wide pH range using cyclic and differential pulse voltammetry. Chloroquine was oxidized in the pH range 2.0-11.0 yielding one irreversible main oxidation peak. A second peak was also observed only in the pH range 5.0-7.0. The modification of the carbon paste surface with dsDNA allowed a preconcentration process to take place for chloroquine such that higher sensitivity was achieved as compared with the bare surface. The response was characterized with respect to solution pH, ionic strength, accumulation time and potential, chloroquine concentration, and other variables. Stripping voltammetric response showed a linear calibration curve in the range 1.0 × 10⁻⁷ to 1.0 × 10⁻⁵ mol l⁻¹ with a detection limit of 3.0 × 10⁻⁸ mol l⁻¹ at the dsDNA-modified electrode. Application of the modified electrode to serum, without sample pretreatment, resulted in good recovery higher than 95% and the higher standard deviation was 3.0%.     

Study of donepezil binding to serum albumin by capillary electrophoresis and circular dichroism

The interaction between human serum albumin (HSA) and the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor donepezil, has been studied by means of capillary electrophoresis frontal analysis (CE/FA) and circular dichroism. CE/FA enabled rapid and direct estimation of the quantity of free donepezil present at equilibrium with a physiological level of serum albumin (600 mol L^–1). Application of Scatchard analysis enabled estimation of the binding parameters of HSA towards donepezil, such as association constant and number of binding sites on one protein molecule. Furthermore, due to enantioseparation ability shown by HSA on donepezil in CE mode, displacement experiments were carried out using ketoprofen and warfarin as coadditives to the HSA based running buffer. The addition of these compounds reduced the enantioresolution of donepezil by HSA only when used at high concentration. These data were confirmed and corroborated by circular dichroism (CD) experiments. Using CD, bilirubin was also applied as a ligand specific to site III of HSA. The observed behaviour suggested that donepezil could be considered a ligand with independent binding to sites I and II; although site III is not the highest affinity site, indirect interaction (i.e. cooperative binding) can be assumed.