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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Postmenopausal women often require estrogen supplementation to improve menopausal and postmenopausal vasomotor symptoms and maintain hormonal balance. Conjugated equine estrogens extracted from the urine of pregnant mares are commonly used to provide this estrogen replacement therapy. The complex composition of this mixture of animal sulfated metabolites makes its bioanalysis challenging such that its detailed pharmacokinetics has not been fully characterized. The purpose of this work is to reveal the pharmacokinetic behavior of conjugated equine estrogens in healthy Chinese postmenopausal women by a parallel two-column LC-MS/MS method.An open-label study was carried out in 35 Chinese healthy postmenopausal women who received a single dose of PremarinBoth conjugated and unconjugated estrogens can be analyzed simultaneously in a single run with an analysis time of 13.0 minutes in the column-switching liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method as opposed to 23.0 minutes in a single-column liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry system. The exposures (maximum concentration and area under the curve) of estrone and equilin in Chinese women were higher than those in the North American women.The fully validated assay was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study in healthy postmenopausal Chinese women after oral administration of a conjugated equine estrogen tablet. This study suggests that Chinese postmenopausal women achieve the same level of unconjugated estrogens in plasma at a lower dose of conjugated equine estrogens than North American women.

Apoptosis plays an important role in both carcinogenesis and cancer treatment. Understanding the mechanisms through which resistance to apoptosis occurs in cancer cells has huge implications for cancer treatment. Although pieces of evidence have shown that elevated levels of global O-GlcNAcylation play an anti-apoptotic role in myriad cancers, the underlying mechanism is still ambiguous. In this study, we demonstrated that FOXA2, an essential transcription factor for liver homeostasis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development, inhibits doxorubicin (DOX)-induced apoptosis through elevating cellular O-GlcNAcylation in HCC cells. In response to DOX treatment, elevated FOXA2 and global O-GlcNAcylation level was observed in HCC cells, and higher FOXA2 levels indicated lower levels of DOX-induced apoptosis. Subsequently, we demonstrated that FOXA2 is a direct transcriptional activator of the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP) rate-limiting enzyme GFPT1. The upregulation of FOXA2 expression induced the synthesis of intracellular UDP-GlcNAc, which is the sugar substrate of O-GlcNAcylation produced by the HBP. The flux through the HBP elevated the global O-GlcNAcylation level and led to the activation of survival signaling pathways in HCC cells. Furthermore, GFPT1 was proved to be an important downstream regulator of FOXA2-mediated apoptotic suppression. These results provide insights into the molecular mechanism by which FOXA2 inhibits DOX-induced HCC cell apoptosis and suggest that targeting FOXA2 might offer a new strategy for HCC treatment.

A high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry cubed (HPLC/MS3) method was developed and validated to quantify lamotrigine in human plasma with carbamazepine as an internal standard. The HPLC/MS/MS system is composed of a Shimadzu UFLC XR high-performance liquid chromatograph coupled with a hybrid linear ion trap triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. Following simple protein precipitation with methanol, the separation of lamotrigine and carbamazepine was performed on an Agilent Poroshell 120 SB-C18 column (4.6 × 50 mm, 2.7 μm) using gradient elution with 0.1% formic acid in water (solvent I) and 0.1% formic acid in methanol (solvent II) at a flow rate of 0.8 mL min-1. The total run time for each sample was 5 min. The method was validated for accuracy, precision, linearity, lower limit of quantification (LLOQ), selectivity, and other parameters. The LC/MS3 method was linear in the concentration range of 0.50-50.0 μg mL-1 (R2 ≥ 0.995). The LLOQ was 0.5 μg mL-1, requiring only 30 μL of human plasma. Intra- and inter-day accuracies were

Polypropylene glycol (PPG) is a commonly used synthetic polymer in many fields. Investigating the toxicity and pharmacokinetic behavior of PPG polymers is necessary and important for evaluating their safety in medicine and daily cosmetics. In this study, PPG425, PPG1K and PPG2K were selected as the target polymers for cytotoxicity and cellular pharmacokinetics study of PPG polymers. Structural diversity and polydisperse molecular weights (MWs) are significant challenges for quantification of PPG polymers by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Collision induced dissociation in source or collision cell generated a series of PPG-related product ions at m/z 59.0, 117.1, 175.1, 233.2, 291.2, 349.3, 407.2, 465.3 and 523.5 corresponding to fragments containing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 repeating propylene oxide subunits. PPG425 was determined by the sum of the MRM acquisitions used the transitions [M+H]

Alachlor is one of the most widely used herbicides and can also be a carcinogenic compound. It is of great significance to establish a sensitive analytical method for the determination of alachlor in the environment and organisms. In this study, a high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry cubed (LC/MS

A high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry cubed (HPLC/MS

Butachlor is an aromatic amide compound that plays a role as a herbicide, a xenobiotic, and an environmental contaminant. The aim of this work was to develop a highly selective and sensitive ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method based on the tandem mass spectrometry cubed technique to determine butachlor in a biological matrix. Butachlor and internal standard acetochlor were separated on a Waters Acquity ultra-performance liquid chromatography BEH C

Background: HSP90 has been considered an important anticancer target for several decades, but traditional HSP90 N-terminal inhibitors often suffered from organ toxicity and/or drug resistance. Methods: The development of HSP90 C-terminal inhibitors represents a reliable alternative strategy. In view of rare examples of structure-based identification of HSP90 C-terminal inhibitors, we report a virtual screening based strategy for the discovery of HSP90 C-terminal inhibitors as anticancer agents from natural products. Results & Discussion: 13 chemical ingredients from licorice were identified as possible HSP90 inhibitors and 3 of them have been reported as anticancer agents. The binding modes towards HSP90 C-terminus were predicted by molecular docking and refined by molecular dynamics simulation. Conclusion: Further network pharmacological analysis predicted overall possible targets involved in the pathways in cancer and revealed that 8 molecules possibly interact with HSP90. A structure based virtual screening strategy was established for the discovery of HSP90 Cterminal inhibitors.

Therapeutic drug monitoring of carbamazepine is necessary for its clinical application with the purpose to reach therapeutic concentration and reduce the risk of concentration-dependent toxicity. An ultrafast analytical assay for quantification of carbamazepine in human plasma was developed and validated based on direct analysis in real time tandem mass spectrometry (DART-MS/MS). After reversed phase solid phase extraction with Waters Oasis HLB, carbamazepine and internal standard carbamazepine-D

Objective The purpose of this study is to reveal the pharmacokinetic profiles of astilbin with various doses in rats and investigate the oral absolute bioavailability and tissue distribution of astilbin after oral administration. Methods Wistar rats were orally administered astilbin 12, 24 mg/kg and intravenous administered astilbin 6 mg/kg randomly. The concentration of astilbin in rat plasma and various tissue samples was determined by LC-MS/MS method. Noncompartmental pharmacokinetic parameters including AUC and t1/2 were calculated from plasma concentration–time data of astilbin with the DAS 3.0. Key findings After oral administration of astilbin 12 and 24 mg/kg to rats, the oral absolute bioavailability of astilbin were 1.16 ± 0.695% and 1.27 ± 0.379%; the plasma elimination half-lives (t1/2) were 101 ± 35.8 and 109 ± 25.3 min, respectively. Astilbin had a rapid absorption and a wide distribution throughout the whole body except liver and fat following oral administration. Astilbin could penetrate the blood–brain barrier of rat. Conclusions The oral absolute bioavailability of astilbin is poor because of the low permeability and solubility. Both oral absorption and clearance of astilbin in rats are rapid after oral administration.

The covalent attachment of polyethylene glycol (PEG) to therapeutic compounds (known as PEGylation) is one of the most promising techniques to improve the biological efficacy of small molecular weight drugs. After administration, PEGylated prodrugs can be metabolized into pharmacologically active compounds so that PEGylated drug, free drug and released PEG are present simultaneously in the body. Understanding the pharmacokinetic behavior of these three compounds is needed to guide the development of pegylated theranostic agents. However, PEGs are polydisperse molecules with a wide range of molecular weights, so that the simultaneous quantitation of PEGs and PEGylated molecules in biological matrices is very challenging. This article reports the application of a data-independent acquisition method (MSAll) based on liquid chromatography electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-q-q-TOF-MS) in the positive ion mode to the simultaneous determination of methoxyPEG2000-doxorubicin (mPEG2K-Dox) and its breakdown products in rat blood. Using the MSAll technique, precursor ions of all molecules are generated in q1, fragmented to product ions in q2 (collision cell), and subjected to TOF separation before precursor and product ions are recorded using low and high collision energies (CE) respectively in different experiments for a single sample injection. In this study, dissociation in q2 generated a series of high resolution PEG-related product ions at m/z 89.0611, 133.0869, 177.1102, 221.1366, 265.1622, 309.1878, and 353.2108 corresponding to fragments containing various numbers of ethylene oxide subunits, Dox-related product ions at m/z 321.0838 and 361.0785, and an mPEG2K-Dox specific product ion at m/z 365.0735. Detection of mPEGs and mPEG2K-Dox was based on high resolution extracted ions of mPEG and the specific compound. The method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of doxorubicin, mPEG2K (methylated polyethylene glycol 2K), and mPEG2K-doxorubicin in rats after a single intravenous injection of mPEG2K-doxorubicin. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first assay that simultaneously determines mPEG, Dox, and mPEG2K-Dox in a biological matrix. We believe the MSAll technique as applied in this study can be potentially extended to the determination of other PEGylated small molecules or polymeric compounds.

Gemcitabine is a small molecular antitumor compound used to treat many types of solid tumors. The clinical application of gemcitabine is limited by its short biological half-life, rapid metabolism and poor tumor tissue targeting. The covalent attachment of polyethylene glycol to gemcitabine is a promising technique to overcome these limitations. After PEGylation, PEGylated gemcitabine could be metabolized into gemcitabine and its metabolites in vivo. Due to the scale effect of PEGylated gemcitabine, the DMPK process of the original drug is greatly changed. Therefore, understanding the pharmacokinetic behavior of PEGylated gemcitabine, gemcitabine and the metabolite dFdU in vivo is really important to clarify the antitumoral activity of these compounds. It would also guide the development of other PEGylated drugs. Due to the complex structure and diverse physiochemical property of PEG, direct quantification analysis of PEGylated gemcitabine presented many challenges in terms of assay sensitivity, selectivity, and robustness. In this article, a data-independent acquisition method, MSALL-based approach using electrospray ionization (ESI) coupled quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (MS), was utilized for the determination of PEGylated gemcitabine in rat plasma. The technique consists of a Q1 mass window through all the precursor ions, fragmenting and recording all product ions. PEGylated gemcitabine underwent dissociation in collision cell to generate a series of PEG related ions at m/z 89.0604, 133.0868, 177.1129 of 2, 3, 4 repeating ethylene oxide subunits and PEGylated gemcitabine related ions at m/z 112.0514. PEGylated gemcitabine was detected by the high resolution extracted ions based on the specific compound. For gemcitabine and dFdU, the study used derivatization of these high polarity compounds with dansyl chloride to improve their chromatographic retention. This paper describes comparative pharmacokinetic study of PEGylated gemcitabine and gemcitabine in rats by LC-MS/MS coupled with pre-column derivatization and MSALL technique. The results show that PEGylation could reduce the drug clearance of the conjugated compounds and increase the drug plasma half-life. After administration of PEGylated gemcitabine, the exposure of the free gemcitabine in vivo is lower than administration of gemcitabine, which means that PEGylated gemcitabine possesses lower toxicity compared with gemcitabine.

Cigarette smoking has been shown to be a carcinogenic factor in breast cancer. Nicotine (Nic), an active component of tobacco, has been found to induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in breast cancer cells. However, the alterations in protein O-GlcNAcylation in Nic-mediated tumorigenesis and malignization mechanisms are less well studied. Herein, we found that cellular O-GlcNAcylation dramatically increased in human breast cancer cells with EMT activation induced by Nic. Elevated O-GlcNAcylation subsequently promoted Nic-induced EMT activation and increased cell migratory abbility. In addition, we demonstrated that a differentiation factor for the mammary epithelium, CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein B (CEBPB), was involved in Nic-induced hyper-O-GlcNAcylation via transcriptional regulation of the expression of the key enzyme glutamine: fructose-6-phosphate amidotransferase (GFAT) and thus increased the flux through the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP). Finally, elevated O-GlcNAcylation of the transcriptional repressor C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP) suppressed its heterodimerization with CEBPB and facilitated the DNA-binding activity of CEBPB, further generating positive feedback that enhanced EMT upon Nic stimulation. In conclusion, our results have revealed a new regulatory mechanism involving CEBPB/GFAT-induced hyper-O-GlcNAcylation that plays a key role in EMT and smoking-mediated breast cancer progression.

Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM), the practice of measuring drug plasma concentrations at multiple times, is necessary in the clinical management of drugs with narrow therapeutic windows, such as antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). This study describes a parallel two-column LC–MS/MS system for quantitative high-throughput analysis of AEDs in human plasma. It multiplexes two high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) systems into a single mass spectrometer, providing a twofold throughput increase compared to a generic single-column LC–MS/MS system. The validation results of specificity, matrix effects, recovery, linearity, precision, and accuracy were satisfactory. The intra-day precision and inter-day precision for the analysis of the eight AEDs were less than 7.62%, with the accuracy ranging between −5.06 and 14.00%. The method was used to monitor plasma levels of eight AEDs from 1773 patients on a regular basis. The parallel HPLC–MS/MS method has been demonstrated to be capable of processing large analytical samples. With a twofold increase in sample throughput and a better-coordinated workflow, the system can easily meet the high-throughput challenge in clinical TDM.

A simple, rapid, and high-throughput liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry method for the simultaneous quantitation of ten antiepileptic drugs in human plasma has been developed and validated. The method required only 10 μL of plasma. After simple protein precipitation using acetonitrile, the analytes and internal standard diphenhydramine were separated on a Zorbax SB-C18 column (50 × 4.6 mm, 2.7 μm) using acetonitrile/water as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.9 mL/min. The total run time was 6 min for each sample. The validation results of specificity, matrix effects, recovery, linearity, precision, and accuracy were satisfactory. The lower limit of quantification was 0.04 μg/mL for carbamazepine, 0.02 μg/mL for lamotrigine, 0.01 μg/mL for oxcarbazepine, 0.4 μg/mL for 10-hydroxycarbazepine, 0.1 μg/mL for carbamazepine-10,11-epoxide, 0.15 μg/mL for levetiracetam, 0.06 μg/mL for phenytoin, 0.3 μg/mL for valproic acid, 0.03 μg/mL for topiramate, and 0.15 μg/mL for phenobarbital. The intraday precision and interday precision were less than 7.6%, with the accuracy ranging between -8.1 and 7.9%. The method was successfully applied to therapeutic drug monitoring of 1237 patients with epilepsy after administration of standard antiepileptic drugs. The method has been proved to meet the high-throughput requirements in therapeutic drug monitoring.

Chemoresistance has become a major obstacle to the success of cancer therapy, but the mechanisms underlying chemoresistance are not yet fully understood. O-GlcNAcylation is a post-translational modification that is regulated by the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP) and has an important role in a wide range of cellular functions. Here we assessed the role of O-GlcNAcylation in chemoresistance and investigated the underlying cellular mechanisms. The results showed that the HBP has an important role in cancer cell chemoresistance by regulating O-GlcNAcylation. An increase in the levels of O-GlcNAcylation indicates an increased resistance of cancer cells to chemotherapy. Acute treatment with doxorubicin (DOX) or camptothecin (CPT) induced O-GlcNAcylation through HBP activation. In fact, the chemotherapy agents activated the AKT/X-box-binding protein 1 (XBP1) axis and then induced the HBP. Furthermore, the observed elevation of cellular O-GlcNAcylation led to activation of survival signalling pathways and chemoresistance in cancer cells. Finally, suppression of O-GlcNAcylation reduced the resistance of both established and primary cancer cells to chemotherapy. These results provide significant novel insights regarding the important role of the HBP and O-GlcNAcylation in regulating cancer chemoresistance. Thus, O-GlcNAc inhibition might offer a new strategy for improving the efficacy of chemotherapy.

Crizotinib, a drug for anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) positive and c-ros oncogene 1 receptor tyrosine kinase (ROS1) positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), was structurally optimized via a strategy of structure-based fragment replacing. Computational study showed it was beneficial for interaction of crizotinib and ALK to increase the distance between pyridyl ring and phenyl ring in crizotinib, and thus, a series of novel glycol diaryl ethers were synthesized. The in vitro anti-tumor activity of synthesized compounds was studied in NSCLC cell line H2228 and neurobalstoma cell line SH-SY5Y. Among the synthesized compounds, 9e exhibits stronger anti-cancer activity than crizotinib toward H2228 cell line with an IC50 value of 0.22 μM. Molecular docking indicated that a longer chain between pyridyl ring and phenyl ring enabled molecule to have new interaction with a neighboring small hydrophobic pocket.

The pentapeptide thymopentin (Arg-Lys-Asp-Val-Tyr, RKDVY) corresponds to amino acids 32-36 of the 49 amino acid immunomodulatory polypeptide, thymopoietin, whose biological activity is partially reproduced. Thymopentin is widely used in the clinic and represents a promising target for drug design but bioanalytical and pharmacokinetic data are limited due to its enzymatic instability. This paper reports a rapid and sensitive method based on liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry for the determination of thymopentin in beagle dog blood. To inactivate peptidases and stabilize thymopentin, acetonitrile was added to blood samples immediately after collection followed by addition of stable isotope-labeled thymopentin as internal standard and washing with dichloromethane. Chromatography was carried out on an Ascentis Express Peptide ES-C18 column using gradient elution with methanol and aqueous 0.1% formic acid at a flow rate of 0.6 mL/min. Positive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry with selected reaction monitoring achieved linearity in the range of 1.5-800 ng/mL with good accuracy/precision and minimal matrix effects. The method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study in beagle dogs after intravenous administration of 0.2 mg/kg thymopentin.

The covalent attachment of polyethylene glycol (PEG) to therapeutic compounds (known as PEGylation) is one of the most promising techniques to improve the biological efficacy of small molecular weight drugs. After administration, PEGylated prodrugs can be metabolized into pharmacologically active compounds so that PEGylated drug, free drug and released PEG are present simultaneously in the body. Understanding the pharmacokinetic behavior of these three compounds is needed to guide the development of pegylated theranostic agents. However, PEGs are polydisperse molecules with a wide range of molecular weights, so that the simultaneous quantitation of PEGs and PEGylated molecules in biological matrices is very challenging. This article reports the application of a data-independent acquisition method (MS

In this study, a novel and high-throughput liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS-MS) assay was developed and validated for simultaneous determination of two glycopeptides (vancomycin, teicoplanin) and two small molecule compounds (meropenem, voriconazole) in human plasma. Only 50 μL of human plasma is used to quantify these four drugs simultaneously at clinical concentration levels. After a relative simple protein precipitation, the supernatant was then diluted with mobile phase acetonitrile: 0.1% formic acid (5:95, v/v) to avoid solvent effect and reduce the matrix effect. Then, the target compounds were separated on an Agilent Zorbax SB-C18 column (4.6 × 50 mm, 2.7 μm). All the target compounds were detected by positive ion mode. The teicoplanin concentration was determined as the sum of six components (A2-1, A2-2, A2-3, A2-4, A2-5 and A3-1). The method was linear in the concentration range 0.3-30 μg/mL for meropenem; 1-100 μg/mL for teicoplanin and vancomycin; 0.3-10 μg/mL for voriconazole. The lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ) of meropenem and voriconazole were 0.30 μg/mL; and the LLOQ of teicoplanin and vancomycin were 1.0 μg/mL. The intra- and inter-day accuracies were

A rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(LC-MS/MS) method for the determination of cefotetan in human plasma was developed and validated. After the protein precipitation of sample with acetonitrile, the analyte and internal standard(IS), tramadol, were separated on a Zorbax XDB C8 column using acetonitrile/1%(volume fraction) formic acid(volume ratio 35:65, pH=2.5) as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min with a 1:1 split. The detection was performed by electrospray ionization with positive ion mode, followed by multiple reaction monitoring of the transitions for cefotetan at m/z 576.3→460.2(quantifier) and m/z 576.3→432.2(qualifier) and for IS at m/z 264.1→58.1. Cefotetan and IS were eluted at 1.86 and 1.87 min, respectively. The assay was linear over the concentration range of 0.1–100 μg/mL for 20 μL of human plasma only with intra- and inter-day precisions(expressed as the relative standard deviation) of less than 6.62% and accuracies(as relative error) of ±1.31%. The method was applied to the pharmacokinetic study of a 1-h intravenous infusion of 1.0 g of cefotetan disodium for human volunteers(n=6).

Temozolomide acid (TMZA) is a metabolite of temozolomide (TMZ) with demonstrable anticancer activity in vitro. As a part of preclinical development, its hexyl ester (TMZE) has been synthesized for a potential topical delivery system. In this study, an analytical method based on liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for simultaneously determining TMZE and TMZA in rat plasma was developed and applied to a pharmacokinetic study after intravaginal administration of a suppository (0.3 g) containing TMZE (30 mg). The assay involved sample preparation by liquid–liquid extraction from acidified plasma followed by reversed phase chromatography and detection by electrospray positive ionization followed by multiple reaction monitoring. The lower limit of quantitation was 10 ng mL−1 for both analytes. In the pharmacokinetic study, TMZE could not be detected in plasma whereas TMZA appeared rapidly and was slowly eliminated with an elimination half-life of 5.6 h. In all, the assay strategy could be further applied in the study of other TMZE and TMZA formulations for the treatment of cancer.

Poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(lactic acid) (PEG-PLA) is a biocompatible and amphiphilic block copolymer composed of a hydrophilic PEG block and a hydrophobic PLA block, which can self-assemble into micelles in water. It is one of the most commonly used biodegradable polymers for drug encapsulation, drug solubilization and drug delivery. Due to the complexity and heterogeneity of PEG-PLA, the precise analysis of this polymer is a great challenge. This study reports an application of an UPLC tandem mass spectrometry coupled with in-source collision induced dissociation (CID) technique for the analysis of a model compound mPEG2000-PDLLA2500-COOH, which could be dissociated in source and generate a series of fragment ions corresponding to its subunits. These surrogate ions including PLA-specific and PEG-specific fragment ions could be further broken into specific product ions in collision cell. Finally, the ion transition at m/z 505.0 → 217.0 was selected for the quantitation of mPEG2000-PDLLA2500-COOH. This assay achieved a lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ) of 0.05 μg/mL with only 30 μL rat plasma. The linear range is 0.05 to 5 μg/mL. Intraday and interday accuracy and precision were within ±12.1%. The method was successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic study of mPEG2000-PDLLA2500-COOH in rats. The results revealed that LC-MS/MS coupled with in-source CID is a sensitive and specific strategy for analysis of PEG-PLA. This method can be potentially extended to the analysis of other pharmaceutical polymer excipients.

Hsp90 (Heat shock protein 90) is involved in various processes in cancer occurrence and development, and therefore represents a promising drug target for cancer therapy. In this work, a virtual screening strategy was employed, leading to the identification of a series of compounds bearing a scaffold of 1,3-dibenzyl-2-aryl imidazolidine as novel Hsp90 inhibitors. Compound 4a showed the highest binding affinity to Hsp90α (IC50 = 12 nM) in fluorescence polarization (FP) competition assay and the strongest anti-proliferative activity against human breast adenocarcinoma cell line (MCF-7) and human lung epithelial cell line (A549) with IC50 values of 21.58 μM and 31.22 μM, respectively. Western blotting assays revealed that these novel Hsp90 inhibitors significantly down-regulated the expression level of Her2, a client protein of Hsp90, resulting in the cytotoxicity of these novel Hsp90 inhibitors. The molecular docking study showed that these novel Hsp90 inhibitors bound to the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) binding site at the N-terminus of Hsp90. Furthermore, structure−activity relationship studies indicated that the N-benzyl group is important for the anti-cancer activity of 1,3-dibenzyl-2-aryl imidazolidines.

Astilbin is a potential immunosuppressive agent with minor cytotoxicity. Its oral bioavailability is supposed to be rather low and therefore a sensitive analytical method is required for its pharmacokinetic study after oral administration. A simple, sensitive and rapid liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(LC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the determination of astilbin in rat plasma. Plasma samples were subjected to liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate and separated by reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) with methanol-0.01%(volume fraction) formic acid(50:50, volume ratio) as mobile phase. Quantitive determination was achieved on negative LC-MS/MS by a multiple reaction moitoring method with transitions m/z 449.1→150.9(quantifier) and m/z 449.1→284.9(qualifier) for astilbin and m/z 128.9→42.0 for internal standard(IS). A lower limit of quantification(LLOQ) of ng/mL was achieved within a short cycle time of 3.4 min. The method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study involving oral and intravenous administrations of 6 mg/kg astilbin to six rats.

A simple, specific and highly sensitive assay using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization was developed for the determination of olprinone in human plasma. Following the addition of codeine as an internal standard and simple liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate-isopropanol (95:5, v/v), the analytes were separated on a Zorbax SB-C18 column (4.6 × 150 mm i.d., 5 µm) and eluted with a mobile phase consisting of methanol-10 mmol/L ammonium acetate containing 1% formic acid (50:50, v/v) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. Detection was achieved with electrospray positive ionization mass spectrometry using multiple reaction monitoring mode. Linear calibration curves were obtained in the concentration range of 0.1-100 ng/mL (r = 0.9995), with a lower limit of quantification of 0.1 ng/mL. The intra-day and inter-day precision values, as relative deviation, were below 6.06% and the accuracy, as relative error, was below 9.92% at all quality control concentrations. The method was applicable to clinical pharmacokinetic study of an olprinone hydrochloride hydrate injection in healthy Chinese volunteers.

A method for the determination of landiolol, an ultra-short-acting β 1 -adrenoreceptor antagonist, in human plasma has been developed and validated. With the addition of pyridostigmine bromide to stabilize landiolol in the blood/plasma samples, and bisoprolol as internal standard, plasma samples were subjected to liquid–liquid extraction with diethyl ether:dicholoromethane (60:40, v/v) prior to assay by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. Separation was performed on a TC-C 18 column (150 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) using a mobile phase of methanol:10 mM ammonium acetate containing 1% formic acid (65:35, v/v) in a run time of 3.5 min. Detection involved electrospray ionization in the positive ion mode followed by multiple reaction monitoring of the precursor-to-product ion transitions of landiolol at m / z 510.1 → 157.2 and bisoprolol at m / z 326.3 → 116.1. The method was linear over the concentration range 0.5–500 ng/ml with a lower limit of quantitation of 0.5 ng/ml. Intra- and inter-day precisions (as relative standard deviation, RSD) were

The pentapeptide thymopentin (Arg-Lys-Asp-Val-Tyr, RKDVY) corresponds to amino acids 32-36 of the 49 amino acid immunomodulatory polypeptide, thymopoietin, whose biological activity is partially reproduced. Thymopentin is widely used in the clinic and represents a promising target for drug design but bioanalytical and pharmacokinetic data are limited due to its enzymatic instability. This paper reports a rapid and sensitive method based on liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry for the determination of thymopentin in beagle dog blood. To inactivate peptidases and stabilize thymopentin, acetonitrile was added to blood samples immediately after collection followed by addition of stable isotope-labeled thymopentin as internal standard and washing with dichloromethane. Chromatography was carried out on an Ascentis Express Peptide ES-C18 column using gradient elution with methanol and aqueous 0.1% formic acid at a flow rate of 0.6 mL/min. Positive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry with selected reaction monitoring achieved linearity in the range of 1.5-800 ng/mL with good accuracy/precision and minimal matrix effects. The method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study in beagle dogs after intravenous administration of 0.2 mg/kg thymopentin.

Aralia mandshrica is a well-known traditional Chinese medicine from Northeast China commonly used to treat digestive, circulatory and immune system disorders. Calenduloside E is one of its bioactive components currently under evaluation as a pure drug. In this study, a highly sensitive and rapid method based on liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for the simultaneous quantitation of calenduloside E and its active metabolite oleanolic acid in beagle dog plasma has been developed and validated. Samples containing the ammonium salt of simvastatin acid as internal standard (IS) were purified by solid phase extraction and separated on a SUPELCO Ascentis-C18 column (50mm×4.6mm i.d., 5μm) using gradient elution with 0.35% formic acid and acetonitrile. Analytes and IS were detected in a cycle time of 5min after ionization in the negative ion mode by multiple reaction monitoring of the precursor-to-product ion transitions at m/z 631.4→455.4 and m/z 435.4→319.0 for calenduloside E and IS respectively and by single ion monitoring of the ion at m/z 455.4 for oleanolic acid. The method was linear over the concentration range 0.4-100ng/mL for both analytes using 0.5mL plasma. Inter- and intra-day precisions were both6.96% with accuracies6.40%. In the pharmacokinetic (PK) study, beagle dogs were given oral doses of calenduloside E (1.05, 2.10 and 4.20mg/kg) and an intravenous injection of 2.10mg/kg. The absolute bioavailability of calenduloside E was only 0.58%. Area under the plasma concentration time curve (AUC(0-t)) for the oral doses of calenduloside E was approximately dose proportional while other PK parameters (t1/2, Tmax and MRT) showed no significant differences among the three doses (P0.05). The PK data provide a useful platform on which to base future clinical studies of calenduloside E.

A rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) method for the simultaneous quantitation of five major active ingredients of Ixeris sonchifolia (Bge.) Hance in rat plasma has been developed and validated. After liquid-liquid extraction of 50μL plasma with ethyl acetate, analytes and internal standard (I.S.), astilbin, were chromatographed on a Zorbax SB-C18 column (150mm×4.6mm, 5μm) using acetonitrile - 10mM ammonium acetate (60:40, v/v, pH 5.6) as mobile phase. The five analytes: chicoric acid, luteolin 7-O-β-d-glucuronide, luteolin 7-O-β-d-glucopyranoside, luteolin 7-O-β-d-glucopyranosyl-(1→2)-β-d-glucopyranoside, apigenin 7-O-β-d-glucuronide and I.S., were detected by negative ion electrospray ionization followed by multiple reaction monitoring of the ions with m/z 473.0→311.0, 461.0→285.0, 447.0→285.0, 609.1→285.0, 445.1→269.0 and 449.1→150.9, respectively. The method was linear for all analytes in the concentration range 10-3000ng/mL with intra- and inter-day precision (as relative standard deviation) ≤8.99% and accuracy (as relative error) ≤4.00%. The limits of detection (LOD) were 5, 1, 5, 5, 2ng/mL for chicoric acid, luteolin 7-O-β-d-glucuronide, luteolin 7-O-β-d-glucopyranoside, luteolin 7-O-β-d-glucopyranosyl-(1→2)-β-d-glucopyranoside, apigenin 7-O-β-d-glucuronide, respectively. The method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of the five analytes in rat after a single intravenous dose of Kudiezi Injection.

A method for the determination of landiolol, an ultra-short-acting β₁-adrenoreceptor antagonist, in human plasma has been developed and validated. With the addition of pyridostigmine bromide to stabilize landiolol in the blood/plasma samples, and bisoprolol as internal standard, plasma samples were subjected to liquid-liquid extraction with diethyl ether:dicholoromethane (60:40, v/v) prior to assay by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Separation was performed on a TC-C₁₈ column (150 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) using a mobile phase of methanol:10 mM ammonium acetate containing 1% formic acid (65:35, v/v) in a run time of 3.5 min. Detection involved electrospray ionization in the positive ion mode followed by multiple reaction monitoring of the precursor-to-product ion transitions of landiolol at m/z 510.1→157.2 and bisoprolol at m/z 326.3→116.1. The method was linear over the concentration range 0.5-500 ng/ml with a lower limit of quantitation of 0.5 ng/ml. Intra- and inter-day precisions (as relative standard deviation, RSD) were4.4% and10.0%, respectively, with accuracy (as relative error, RE)10.0%. The method was successfully applied to a clinical pharmacokinetic study involving a continuous infusion of landiolol hydrochloride to healthy Chinese volunteers.