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Background: Acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is one of the most common cerebrovascular diseases which accompanied by a disruption of aminothiols homeostasis. To explore the relationship of aminothiols with neurologic impairment severity, we investigated four aminothiols, homocysteine (Hcy), cysteine (Cys), cysteinylglycine (CG) and glutathione (GSH) in plasma and its influence on ischemic stroke severity in AIS patients. Methods: A total of 150 clinical samples from AIS patients were selected for our study. The concentrations of free reduced Hcy (Hcy), own oxidized Hcy (HHcy), free reduced Cys (Cys), own oxidized Cys (cysteine, Cyss), free reduced CG (CG) and free reduced GSH (GSH) were measured by our previously developed hollow fiber centrifugal ultrafiltration (HFCF-UF) method coupled with high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). The concentration ratio of Hcy to HHcy (Hcy/HHcy), Cys to Cyss (Cys/Cyss) were also calculated. The neurologic impairment severity of AIS was evaluated using National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). The Spearman correlation coefficient and logistic regression analysis was used to estimate and perform the correlation between Hcy, HHcy, Cys, Cyss, CG, GSH, Hcy/HHcy, Cys/Cyss and total Hcy with NIHSS score. Results: The reduced Hcy and Hcy/HHcy was both negatively correlated with NIHSS score in AIS patients with P = 0.008, r=-0.215 and P = 0.002, r=-0.249, respectively. There was no significant correlation of Cys, CG, GSH, HHcy, Cyss, Cys/Cyss and total Hcy with NIHSS score in AIS patients with P value > 0.05. Conclusions: The reduced Hcy and Hcy/HHcy, not total Hcy concentration should be used to evaluate neurologic impairment severity of AIS patient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of imatinib (IM) in cancer therapy offers the potential to improve treatment efficacy while minimizing toxicity. There was a significant correlation between unbound concentration and clinical response and toxicity, compared with total plasma concentrations, and the quantification of unbound IM and its metabolite, N-desmethyl imatinib (NDI) are of interest for TDM. However, traditional unbound drug separation methods have shortcomings, especially are susceptible to non-specific binding (NSB) of drugs to the polymer-constructed components of filter membranes, which are difficult to avoid at present. Hence it is necessary to developed a reliable separation method for the analysis of the unbound fraction of IM and NDI in TDM. We developed and validated an hollow fiber solid phase microextraction (HF-SPME) method coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) that to measure unbound IM and NDI concentration in human plasma. It used the NSB phenomenon and solve the NSB problem. The preparation procedure only involves a common vortex and ultrasonication without dilution of samples and modification of membrane. A total of 50 chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients were enrolled in our study. The relationship between the unbound and total concentrations for IM and NDI, as well as the concentration ratios of NDI to IM in 50 clinical plasma samples were investigated. The extraction recovery is high to 95.5–106 % with validation parameters for the methodological results were all excellent. There were both a poor linear relationship between the unbound and total concentrations for IM (r 2=0.504) and NDI (r 2=0.201) in 50 clinical plasma samples. The unbound concentration ratios of NDI to IM varied widely in CML patients. The determination of unbound IM and NDI concentration is meaningful and necessary. The developed HF-SPME method is simple, accurate and precise that could be used to measure unbound IM and NDI concentration in clinical TDM. [Display omitted] • A simple and accurate method to measure unbound IM and NDI level in human plasma. • HF-SPME was preparation procedure for unbound drug analysis at first time. • It used the NSB phenomenon and solve the NSB problem • It suitable to measure unbound IM and NDI concentration in clinical TDM [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple sample preparation method has been developed for the determination of amoxicillin in human plasma by hollow fiber centrifugal ultrafiltration (HF–CF–UF). A 400-μL plasma sample was placed directly into the HF–CF–UF device, which consisited of a slim glass tube and a U-shaped hollow fiber. After centrifugation at 1.25 × 103 g for 10 min, the filtrate was withdrawn from the hollow fiber and 20 µL was directly injected into the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for analysis. The calibration curve was linear over the range of 0.1–20 µg/mL (r = 0.9996) and the limit of detection was as low as 0.025 µg/mL. The average recovery and absolute recovery were 99.9% and 84.5%, respectively. Both the intra-day and inter-day precisions (relative standard deviation) were less than 3.1% for three concentrations (0.25, 2.5 and 10 µg/mL). The sample preparation process was simplified. Only after a single centrifugal ultrafiltration can the filtrate be injected directly into HPLC. The present method is simple, sensitive and accurate. It could be effective for the analysis of biological samples with high protein contents, especially for the biopharmaceutical analysis of drugs that use traditional isolation techniques for sample preparation such as the protein precipitation method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX) can be highly effective as well as extremely toxic. Many drug molecules can bind to plasma proteins to different extents in vivo , whereas only the free drug can reach the site of action to exert a pharmacological effect and cause toxicity. However, free MTX concentrations in plasma have not been reported. Traditional analyses of free drugs are both cumbersome and inaccurate. We collected 92 plasma samples from 52 children diagnosed with ALL or NHL or other lymphomas that were treated with HD-MTX. The hollow fiber centrifugal ultrafiltration (HFCF-UF) was used to prepare plasma samples for analysis of the free MTX concentration. Protein precipitation was employed to measure the total MTX concentration. The HFCF-UF is a simple method involving a step of ordinary centrifugation; the validation parameters for the methodological results were satisfactory and fell within the acceptance criteria. A linearity coefficient r 2 of 0.910 was obtained for the correlation between the free and total MTX plasma concentrations in 92 plasma samples. However, the free and total MTX concentrations was only weakly correlated in 16 clinical plasma specimens with total MTX concentrations >2 μmol L−1 (r 2 = 0.760). Both the free and total MTX concentrations at 42 h were negatively correlated with the creatinine clearance (CCr) level (P = 0.023, r = −0.236 for total MTX and P = 0.020, r = −0.241for free MTX, respectively). The free MTX concentration could not be accurately estimated from the total MTX concentration for patients with high MTX levels which are conditions under which toxic reactions are more likely to occur. High plasma MTX levels could become a predictor of the occurrence of MTX nephrotoxicity to draw people's attention. The proposed HFCF-UF method is a simple and accurate way to evaluate efficacy and toxicity in clinical therapeutic drug monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Factors that affect the ultrafiltrate volume were comprehensively investigated. [•] Ultrafiltrate volume is a crucial factor on the accurate measurement of unbound drug. [•] The ultrafiltrate volume by HFCF-UF can be easily controlled. [•] The HFCF-UF method has extremely low detection limit and perfect recovery. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]