Browsing by Subject "liquid chromatography"

Metabolomics is a rapidly growing research field that studies the response of biological systems to environmental factors, disease states and genetic modifications. It aims at measuring the complete set of endogenous metabolites, i.e. the metabolome, in a biological sample such as plasma or cells. Because metabolites are the intermediates and end products of biochemical reactions, metabolite compositions and metabolite levels in biological samples can provide a wealth of information on on-going processes in a living system. Due to the complexity of the metabolome, metabolomic analysis poses a challenge to analytical chemistry. Adequate sample preparation is critical to accurate and reproducible analysis, and the analytical techniques must have high resolution and sensitivity to allow detection of as many metabolites as possible. Furthermore, as the information contained in the metabolome is immense, the data set collected from metabolomic studies is very large. In order to extract the relevant information from such large data sets, efficient data processing and multivariate data analysis methods are needed. In the research presented in this thesis, metabolomics was used to study mechanisms of polymeric gene delivery to retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. The aim of the study was to detect differences in metabolomic fingerprints between transfected cells and non-transfected controls, and thereafter to identify metabolites responsible for the discrimination. The plasmid pCMV-β was introduced into RPE cells using the vector polyethyleneimine (PEI). The samples were analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled to a triple quadrupole (QqQ) mass spectrometer (MS). The software MZmine was used for raw data processing and principal component analysis (PCA) was used in statistical data analysis. The results revealed differences in metabolomic fingerprints between transfected cells and non-transfected controls. However, reliable fingerprinting data could not be obtained because of low analysis repeatability. Therefore, no attempts were made to identify metabolites responsible for discrimination between sample groups. Repeatability and accuracy of analyses can be influenced by protocol optimization. However, in this study, optimization of analytical methods was hindered by the very small number of samples available for analysis. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that obtaining reliable fingerprinting data is technically demanding, and the protocols need to be thoroughly optimized in order to approach the goals of gaining information on mechanisms of gene delivery.

Cytochrome P450 (CYP) -enzymes are one of the most important enzymes in the metabolism of xenobiotics. Because many xenobiotics are metabolized with each other by the same CYP-enzymes, it is possible that metabolic interactions will take place. These interactions can be the inhibition or induction of the metabolism of another xenobiotic. The interaction can be harmful e.g. when it causes an accumulation of a toxic metabolite or when it inhibits the metabolism of an active drug substance. The aim of this study was to develop a quantitative method for determining metabolic interactions between drugs and environmental chemicals in human liver microsome (HLM) incubations. HLMs contain high concentrations of CYP-enzymes, enabling the use of CYP-model reactions for observing interactions. The model reactions chosen for this study were O-deethylation of phenacetin (CYP1A2), 7-hydroxylation of coumarin (CYP2A6), 4'-hydroxylation of diclofenac (CYP2C9), 1'-hydroxylation of bufuralol (CYP2D6) and 6β-hydroxylation of testosterone (CYP3A4). Michaelis-Menten constants (Km) and maximal enzymatic activities (Vmax) were determined for each model reaction. The suitability of the model reactions for inhibition studies was assessed with specific inhibitors. The quantitative method was developed for an ultra-high performance liquid chormatograph (UPLC) and for a quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometer (QTOF). Samples were ionized with electrospray ionization (ESI) using positive mode. Device parameters were the same for all the metabolites. The analytical method validation was partly performed according to ICH (International Conference on Harmonisation) guidelines. A sufficient linearity (R2>0,99) and specificity was achieved for the quantitative method. The achieved limits of quantitation (LOQ) were low enough (1-120 nM) for quantitation of the small concentrations of the metabolites formed in the inhibition assays. The measurement reproducibility and the reproducibility and accuracy of the method did not fulfill the acceptance criteria for all the metabolites. Improvement of the results should be tried by e.g. exploring different device parameters. 1'-hydroxydiclofenac was found likely to degrade in the matrix solution because of the acidic conditions, making the reliability of the results poor for this metabolite. The Km value obtained for coumarin differed markedly from literature values, which can be due to a too long incubation time. Therefore, incubation conditions should be optimized for this model reaction in coming studies. The Km values obtained for the model reactions of CYP1A2, CYP2D6 and CYP3A4 were similar to those found in literature. Also the IC50 values were quite well within the range of values reported in literature for the inhibitors of the above mentioned model reactions. The effects of four different polymers, F68, F127, Tetronic 1307 and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) on the enzyme activities were also studied, at a concentration of 1 mg/ml. In principal, at this concentration the polymers did not cause significant changes in the enzyme activities, although inhibition of the CYP2C9 could have been significant. However, the reliability of CYP2C9 model reaction was found to be poor with the used method. In the future this developed method should be further validated, and the incubation conditions for the model reaction of CYP2A6 should be optimized. After this, the IC50 values for the polymers could be studied to get more reliable information about their potential CYP-inhibition properties.