Search

Acute liver injury (ALI) is a severe disorder resulting from excessive hepatocyte cell death, and frequently caused by acetaminophen intoxication. Clinical management of ALI progression is hampered by the dearth of blood biomarkers available. In this study, a bioinformatics workflow was developed to screen omics databases and identify potential biomarkers for hepatocyte cell death. Then, discovery proteomics was harnessed to select from among these candidates those that were specifically detected in the blood of acetaminophen-induced ALI patients. Among these candidates, the isoenzyme alcohol dehydrogenase 1B (ADH1B) was massively leaked into the blood. To evaluate ADH1B, we developed a targeted proteomics assay and quantified ADH1B in serum samples collected at different times from 17 patients admitted for acetaminophen-induced ALI. Serum ADH1B concentrations increased markedly during the acute phase of the disease, and dropped to undetectable levels during recovery. In contrast to alanine aminotransferase activity, the rapid drop in circulating ADH1B concentrations was followed by an improvement in the international normalized ratio (INR) within 10-48 h, and was associated with favorable outcomes. In conclusion, the combination of omics data exploration and proteomics revealed ADH1B as a new blood biomarker candidate that could be useful for the monitoring of acetaminophen-induced ALI.

Ketamine is widely used in medicine in combination with several benzodiazepines, including midazolam. The objectives of this study were to develop a novel HPLC-MS/selected reaction monitoring (SRM) method capable of quantifying ketamine and norketamine using an isotopic dilution strategy in biological matrices and study the formation of norketamine, the principal metabolite of ketamine with and without the presence of midazolam, a well-known CYP3A substrate. The chromatographic separation was achieved using a Thermo Betasil Phenyl 100 × 2 mm column combined with an isocratic mobile phase composed of acetonitrile, methanol, water and formic acid (60:20:20:0.4) at a flow rate of 300 μL/min. The mass spectrometer was operating in selected reaction monitoring mode and the analytical range was set at 0.05-50 μm. The precision (CV) and accuracy (NOM) observed were 3.9-7.8 and 95.9-111.1% respectively. The initial rate of formation of norketamine was determined using various ketamine concentrations and Km values of 18.4, 13.8 and 30.8 μm for rat, dog and human liver S9 fractions were observed, respectively. The metabolic stability of ketamine on liver S9 fractions was significantly higher in human (T1/2  = 159.4 min) compared with rat (T1/2  = 12.6 min) and dog (T1/2  = 7.3 min) liver S9 fractions. Moreover significantly lower IC50 and Ki values observed in human compared with rat and dog liver S9 fractions. Experiments with cDNA expressed CYP3A enzymes showed that the formation of norketamine is mediated by CYP3A but results suggest an important contribution from other isoenzymes, most likely CYP2C particularly in rat., (Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Targeted peptide methods generally use HPLC-MS/MRM approaches. Although dependent on the instrumental resolution, interferences may occur while performing analysis of complex biological matrices. HPLC-MS/MRM(3) is a technique, which provides a significantly better selectivity, compared with HPLC-MS/MRM assay. HPLC-MS/MRM(3) allows the detection and quantitation by enriching standard MRM with secondary product ions that are generated within the linear ion trap. Substance P (SP) and neurokinin A (NKA) are tachykinin peptides playing a central role in pain transmission. The objective of this study was to verify whether HPLC-MS/MRM(3) could provide significant advantages over a more traditional HPLC-MS/MRM assay for the quantification of SP and NKA in rat spinal cord. The results suggest that reconstructed MRM(3) chromatograms display significant improvements with the nearly complete elimination of interfering peaks but the sensitivity (i.e. signal-to-noise ratio) was severely reduced. The precision (%CV) observed was between 3.5% and 24.1% using HPLC-MS/MRM and in the range of 4.3-13.1% with HPLC-MS/MRM(3), for SP and NKA. The observed accuracy was within 10% of the theoretical concentrations tested. HPLC-MS/MRM(3) may improve the assay sensitivity to detect difference between samples by reducing significantly the potential of interferences and therefore reduce instrumental errors., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Animal models are widely used to perform basic scientific research in pain. The rodent chronic constriction injury (CCI) model is widely used to study neuropathic pain. Animals were tested prior and after CCI surgery using behavioral tests (von Frey filaments and Hargreaves test) to evaluate pain. The brain and the lumbar enlargement of the spinal cord were collected from neuropathic and normal animals. Tachykinin related peptides were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometry. Our results reveal that the β-tachykinin₅₈₋₇₁, SP and SP₃₋₁₁ up-regulation are closely related to pain behavior. The spinal β-tachykinin₅₈₋₇₁, SP and SP₃₋₁₁ concentrations were significantly up-regulated in neuropathic animals compared with normal animals (p<0.001; p<0.001 and p<0.05, respectively). In contrast, the spinal SP5₅₋₁₁ concentration in neuropathic animals revealed a significant down-regulation compared with normal animals (p<0.05). The brain β-tachykinin₅₈₋₇₁ and SP concentrations were significantly up-regulated (p<0.05 and p<0.001, respectively). Interestingly, no significant concentration differences were observed in the spinal cord and brain for NKA, β-tachykinin₅₈₋₇₁, SP₁₋₇ and SP₆₋₁₁ (p>0.05). The β-tachykinin₅₈₋₇₁, SP and C-terminal SP metabolites could potentially serve as biomarkers in early drug discovery., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Xylazine is an α2 -adrenoceptor agonist and it is widely used in veterinary anesthesia in combination with ketamine. There is limited information on the metabolism of xylazine. A quantitative method for the determination of xylazine by HPLC-ESI/MS/MS was developed. The method consisted of a protein precipitation extraction followed by analysis using liquid chromatography electrospray tandem mass spectrometry. The chromatographic separation was achieved using a Thermo Betasil Phenyl 100 × 2 mm column combined with an isocratic mobile phase composed of acetonitrile, methanol, water and formic acid (60:20:20:0.4) at a flow rate of 300 μL/min. The mass spectrometer was operating in selected reaction monitoring mode and the analytical range was set at 0.05-50 μm. The precision (%CV) and accuracy (%NOM) observed were 2.3-7.2 and 88.2-96.4%. In vitro metabolism studies were performed in rat liver microsomes and results showed moderate cytochrome P450 affinity (Km = 10.1 μm) and a low metabolic stability of xylazine with a half-life of 4.1 min in rat liver microsomes. Five phase 1 metabolites were observed. The main metabolite observed was an oxidation of the thiazine moiety at m/z 235 and, to a lesser extent, we observed the formation of N-(2,6-dimethylphenyl)thiourea at m/z 181 and three distinctive hydroxylated metabolites at m/z 237. Further experiments with ketamine and ketoconazole strongly supported that the metabolism of xylazine to its main metabolite is mediated by CYP3A in rat liver microsomes., (Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Background: In animal models, the impact of social and environmental manipulations on chronic pain have been investigated in short term studies where enrichment was implemented prior to or concurrently with the injury. The focus of this study was to evaluate the impact of environmental enrichment or impoverishment in mice three months after induction of chronic neuropathic pain., Methods: Thirty-four CD-1 seven to eight week-old male mice were used. Mice underwent surgery on the left leg under isoflurane anesthesia to induce the spared nerve injury model of neuropathic pain or sham condition. Mice were then randomly assigned to one of four groups: nerve injury with enriched environment (n = 9), nerve injury with impoverished environment (n = 8), sham surgery with enriched environment (n = 9), or sham surgery with impoverished environment (n = 8). The effects of environmental manipulations on mechanical (von Frey filaments) heat (hot plate) and cold (acetone test) cutaneous hypersensitivities, motor impairment (Rotarod), spontaneous exploratory behavior (open field test), anxiety-like behavior (elevated plus maze) and depression-like phenotype (tail suspension test) were assessed in neuropathic and control mice 1 and 2 months post-environmental change. Finally, the effect of the environment on spinal expression of the pro-nociceptive neuropeptides substance P and CGRP form the lumbar spinal cord collected at the end of the study was evaluated by tandem liquid chromatography mass spectrometry., Results: Environmental enrichment attenuated nerve injury-induced hypersensitivity to mechanical and cold stimuli. In contrast, an impoverished environment exacerbated mechanical hypersensitivity. No antidepressant effects of enrichment were observed in animals with chronic neuropathic pain. Finally, environmental enrichment resulted lower SP and CGRP concentrations in neuropathic animals compared to impoverishment. These effects were all observed in animals that had been neuropathic for several months prior to intervention., Conclusions: These results suggest that environmental factors could play an important role in the rehabilitation of chronic pain patients well after the establishment of chronic pain. Enrichment is a potentially inexpensive, safe and easily implemented non-pharmacological intervention for the treatment of chronic pain.

Substance P (SP) belongs to the tachykinin family and plays an essential role in pain transmission and in neurogenic inflammation. It can be detected in the central and peripheral nervous systems. The objectives of this study were to establish SP metabolic stability in liver microsomes in three species (rat, mouse and human), and identify and characterize SP metabolites by LC-MS/MS. Endogenous peptide metabolism is not well documented and this is particularly true for neuropeptides participating in neurogenic inflammation. In vitro, T(1/2) results in pooled liver microsomes were 9.2, 5.6 and 18.6 min for rat, mouse and human liver microsomes, respectively. Five major SP metabolites were identified and quantified, including C-terminal SP fragments SP(3-11) , SP(5-11) , SP(6-11) , SP(8-11) as well as N-terminal fragment SP(1-7) . The results suggest significant differences between species in SP metabolite concentrations. Consequently, the metabolic profile of each species is distinctive and may have a significant impact on biomolecular mechanisms involved in specific pathophysiological changes., (Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Vanilloid receptors have a central role in the processing of nociceptive stimuli. TRPV1 null mice showed significant decrease in response to heat noxious stimuli. However, thermal sensitivity is still present suggesting that the TRPV1 is not an exclusive transducer of thermal stimuli. Additionally, tachykinin peptides play a central role in pain processing and expression levels may also contribute in modifying the pain threshold. The LC-MS/MS analysis revealed that SP and NKA were significantly down-regulated in TRPV1(-/-) in spinal cord and brain tissues. In spinal cord, SP concentrations were 23.4 % lower (p < 0.0049) and NKA concentrations were 22.0 % lower (p < 0.0022) in TRPV1 null mice. Additionally, brain SP concentrations were 26.9 % lower (p < 0.0260) and brain NKA concentrations were 31.9 % lower (p < 0.0063) in TRPV1 null mice. These results clearly demonstrate that TPRV1 null mice exhibit lower SP and NKA concentrations in the central nervous system. The deficit of thermal responses may also be related to the down-regulations of SP and NKA.

The development of LC-MS/MS instruments and related applications improved the large-scale analyses of proteins and peptides in complex biological mixtures. The historical factor limiting these types of studies was the lack of sensitivity and reproducibility. However, the capacity of these analyses to detect proteins and peptides was significantly enhanced to a point where they are routinely performed in specialized laboratories in support to drug development programs as well as prognostic and diagnostic investigations. The analytical strategy used in peptidomic analyses needs to minimize the fluctuation in data measurements that might mask or reduce the precision of the determinations and consequently reduce the sensitivity of the assay. Inherently, it outlines the importance of careful standardization to reduce technical and instrumental variation. Therefore, this review will focus on the strengths and the limitations of the different experimental approaches used for the integration of internal standards in peptidomic studies. This review will examine a wide variety of methods, reagents, instrumentations and data analysis tools available to design peptidomic experiments. Moreover, this review will focus on the importance of precision and accuracy in order to adequately establish analysis threshold to detect peptide expression differences., (Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Animal models are useful to evaluate pharmacological therapies to alleviate joint pain. The present study characterized central neuropeptides modulation in the monoiodoacetate (MIA) rat model. Animals receiving a single 3mg MIA injection were euthanized at 3, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days post injection. Spinal cords were analyzed by liquid chromatography ion trap mass spectrometry. Up-regulations of the calcitonin gene-related peptide and substance P were observed starting on days 7 and 28 respectively, whereas big dynorphin(₁₋₃₂) content decreased significantly on day 14 in comparison to control animals (P<0.05). Preclinical drug evaluations using this model should be conducted between 7 and 21 days post injection when the lesions resemble most to human osteoarthritis., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)