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Context: Tucatinib (CYP2C8 substrate) and quercetin (CYP2C8 inhibitor) are two common drugs for the treatment of cancer. However, the effect of quercetin on the metabolism of tucatinib remains unknown., Objective: We validated a sensitive method to quantify tucatinib levels in rat plasma based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS), which was successfully employed to explore the effect of quercetin on tucatinib pharmacokinetics in rats., Materials and Methods: An Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column was applied to achieve the separation of tucatinib and internal standard (IS) talazoparib after protein precipitation with acetonitrile. Then, we used this assay to investigate the effect of different doses of quercetin (25, 50 and 100 mg/kg) on the exposure of orally administered tucatinib (30 mg/kg) in 24 Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats, which were randomly divided into three quercetin pre-treated groups and one control group ( n  = 6)., Results: Our developed assay was verified in all aspects of bioanalytical method validation, involving lower limit of quantification (LLOQ), selectivity, accuracy and precision, calibration curve, extraction recovery, matrix effect and stability. After pre-treatment with 100 mg/kg quercetin, AUC 0→ t , AUC 0→∞ and C max of tucatinib were remarkably increased by 75.4%, 75.8% and 59.1% ( p  < 0.05), respectively, while CLz/F was decreased significantly by 47.3% ( p  < 0.05) when compared with oral administration of 30 mg/kg tucatinib alone. This change is dose-dependent., Conclusions: This study will help better understand the pharmacokinetic properties of tucatinib with concurrent use with quercetin, and more clinical verifications were inspired to confirm whether this interaction has clinical significance in humans.

A new series of 8-methoxy-2-trimethoxyphenyl-3-substituted quinazoline-4(3)-one compounds were designed, synthesized, and screened for antitumor activity against three cell lines, namely, Hela, A549, and MDA compared to docetaxel as reference drug. The molecular docking was performed using Autodock Vina program and 20 ns molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was performed using GROMACS 2018.1 software. Compound 6 was the most potent antitumor of the new synthesized compounds and was evaluated as a VEGFR2 and EGFR inhibitor with (IC50, 98.1 and 106 nM respectively) compared to docetaxel (IC50, 89.3 and 56.1 nM respectively). Compounds 2, 6, 10, and 8 showed strong cytotoxic activities against the Hela cell line with IC50 of, 2.13, 2.8, 3.98, and 4.94 µM, respectively, relative to docetaxel (IC50, 9.65 µM). Compound 11 showed strong cytotoxic activity against A549 cell line (IC50, 4.03 µM) relative to docetaxel (IC50, 10.8 µM). Whereas compounds 6 and 9 showed strong cytotoxic activity against MDA cell line (IC50, 0.79, 3.42 µM, respectively) as compared to docetaxel (IC50, 3.98 µM).

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Adhatoda vasica Nees is widely used herb of indigenous system to treat various ailments especially upper respiratory tract infections. Not only, anti-tubercular efficacy of crude extract and phytoconstituents of A. vasica has been documented but its hepatoprotective role against various drugs mediated hepatic alterations in different animal models has also been observed., Background and Purpose: Isoniazid, rifampicin and pyrazinamide (H-R-Z) are anti-tubercular drugs normally prescribed by health professionals for the treatment of tuberculosis, however along with their medical effectiveness these drugs also exhibit hepatotoxicity among TB patients. Unexpectedly, substantial toxicological data on the metabolism of anti-TB drugs are available but the mystery behind these xenobiotics is too complex and partly implicit. In this study, we further explored the hepatotoxic effects of these xeno-metabolic products and their amelioration by Adhatoda vasica Nees by elucidating its mechanistic action., Methods: We generated a hepatotoxic rodent model by oral administration of H, R and Z (30.85, 61.7 and 132.65 mg/kg body weight) drugs for 25 days in Wistar rats. Additionally, to achieve hepatoprotection two different doses of Adhatoda vasica Nees ethanolic leaf extract (200 and 300 mg/kg body weight) were used along with H-R-Z dosage, orally and once daily for 25 days and tried to ascertain their mechanistic action. For this, initially phytoconstituents of the extract were evaluated followed by extract standardization using RP-HPLC and FTIR methods. Furthermore, antioxidant activity of the extract was analyzed by DPPH assay. Finally, different treated groups were analyzed for hepatic oxidative stress markers, antioxidant markers, histopathological changes and gene expression study including CYP2E1, CYP7A1, NAT, NR1I2 and UGT1A1 genes involved in phase I and phase II xeno-metabolism., Results: Estimated content of vasicine in RP-HPLC method and free-radical scavenging activity in DPPH assay was found to be 134.519 ± 0.00269μg/10mg of leaf extract and 47.81 μg/mL respectively. In H-R-Z treated group, a significant increase in the levels of thiobarbituric acid, significant reduction in the levels of GSH, and enzymatic markers and marked changes in hepatic histological architecture were observed. In addition, there was significance up-regulation of CYP7A and NAT genes, down-regulation of CYP2E1 gene and insignificant expression levels of NR1I2 and UGT1A1 genes were observed in H-R-Z group. Conversely, high dose of A. vasica extract effectively diminished these alterations by declining oxidative stress and boosting of antioxidant levels. In addition, it acted as bi-functional inducer of both phase I (CYP2E1) and phase II (NAT and UGT1A1) enzyme systems., Conclusion: Hence, we concluded that anti-TB drugs exposure has potential to generate reactive metabolites that eventually cause hepatotoxicity by altering oxidant-antioxidant levels and their own metabolism. This study not only emphasized on xeno-metabolism mediated hepatic alterations but also explore the benefit of A. vasica on these toxic insults., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Erlotinib is a first-generation epithelial growth factor receptor inhibitor used in the treatment of non-small cellular lung cancers. Our previously published method on a Thermo TSQ Quantum Ultra triple quadrupole mass spectrometer for the quantitation of erlotinib, OSI-420, and OSI-413 and some other kinase inhibitors was transferred to a more sensitive Sciex QTRAP5500 system. Both methods showed comparable performance in the previous range (5-5000 and 1-1000 ng/mL for erlotinib and OSI-420) with comparable accuracies and precisions (98.9-106.2 vs 98.7.0-104.0, and 3.7-13.4 vs 4.6-13.2), and a high level of agreement between the methods (R 2  = 0.9984 and 0.9951) for the quality control samples. The new system however was also capable of quantifying lower concentrations of both erlotinib and OSI-420 (0.5 and 0.1 ng/mL) with sufficient accuracy and precision. Along with the increased sensitivity we included the semi-quantitative determination of additional erlotinib metabolites M2, M3, M5, M6, M7, M8, M9, M10, M11, M12, M16 (hydroxy-erlotinib), M17, M18, M19, M20, M21 in a 0.1-1000 ng/mL range to the method. With a simple crash, dilute, and shoot sample preparation with acetonitrile and a 4.5 min analytical run time the method outperformed most other published methods in speed and simplicity and was suitable for TDM. Further, enhancement of the understanding of the pharmacokinetics of erlotinib and its metabolites was demonstrated., (Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Tandutinib (MLN518 or CT 53518) (TND) is a novel, oral, small-molecule inhibitor of type III receptor tyrosine kinases utilized for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML)., Materials and Methods: In silico prediction of hepatic drug metabolism for TND was determined using the StarDrop® WhichP450™ module to confirm its metabolic liability. Second, an efficient and accurate LC-MS/MS method was established for TND quantification to evaluate metabolic stability. TND and entrectinib (ENC) (internal standard; IS) were resolved using an isocratic elution system with a reversed stationary phase (C 8 column)., Results: The established LC-MS/MS method exhibited linearity (5-500 ng/mL) with r 2 ≥0.9999 in the human liver microsomes matrix. The method sensitivity was indicated by the limit of quantification (3.8 ng/mL), and reproducibility was revealed by inter- and intraday precision and accuracy (below 10.5%). TND metabolic stability estimation was calculated using intrinsic clearance (22.03 µL/min/mg) and in vitro half-life (29.0 min) values., Conclusion: TND exhibited a moderate extraction ratio indicative of good bioavailability. According to the literature, the approach developed in the present study is the first established LC-MS/MS method for assessing TND metabolic stability., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2020 Attwa et al.)

Penetration of nanoparticles into viable tumor regions is essential for an effective response. Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a novel method for evaluating the intratumoral pharmacokinetics (PK) of a drug in terms of spatial distribution. The application of MSI for analysis of nanomedicine PK remains in its infancy. In this study, we evaluated the applicability of MALDI-MSI for nanoparticle-formulated drug visualization in tumors and biopsies, with an aim toward future application in clinical nanomedicine research. We established an analytic method for the free drug (AZD2811) and then applied it to visualize nanoparticle-formulated AZD2811. MSI analysis demonstrated heterogeneous intratumoral drug distribution in three xenograft tumors. The intensity of MSI signals correlated well with total drug concentration in tumors, indicating that drug distribution can be monitored quantitatively. Analysis of tumor biopsies indicated that MSI is applicable for analyzing the distribution of nanoparticle-formulated drugs in tumor biopsies, suggesting clinical applicability.

This study presents the use of Quick Easy Cheap Efficient Rugged and Safe (QuEChERS) as an effective sample cleaning procedure and switchable solvent liquid phase microextraction (SS-LPME) as a preconcentration tool for the determination of fenazaquin by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) at ultratrace levels. After a thorough optimization process, 0.50 mL of switchable solvent, 1.5 mL of 1.0 M sodium hydroxide, and 15 s of vortexing were determined as optimum conditions of the SS-LPME method. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ) determined using the optimum method (SS-LPME/GC-MS) were 0.05 and 0.18 ng/mL, respectively. Compared with direct GC-MS determination of fenazaquin, the optimum method yielded about 800-fold enhancement in detection power of GC-MS. The method was applied to lake, irrigation canal, well, and wastewater samples. In order to test the method's applicability on fresh tomato samples, a QuEChERS method was used before applying the SS-LPME method. Matrix-matched calibration standards were used to enhance the accuracy of fenazaquin quantification in spiked tomato samples to obtain recovery results close to 100%.

Interaction of multiple entities and receptors, or multivalency is widely applied to achieve high affinity ligands for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. However, lack of knowledge on receptor distribution in living subjects remains a challenge for rational structure design. Herein, we develop a force measurement platform to probe the distribution and separation of the cell surface vascular endothelial growth factor receptors (VEGFR) in live cells, and use this to assess the geometry of appropriate linkers for distinct multivalent binding modes. A tetravalent lead ZD-4, which was developed from an antitumor drug ZD6474 (Vandetanib) with combined hybrid binding effects, yielded a 2000-fold improvement in the binding affinity to VEGFR with IC 50 value of 25 pm. We confirmed the improved affinity by the associated increase of tumor uptake in the VEGFR-targeting positron emission tomography (PET) imaging using U87 tumor xenograft mouse model., (© 2019 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Compound 27 {1, 12-bis[4-(4-amino-6,7-dimethoxyquinazolin-2-yl)piperazin-1-yl]dodecane-1,12-dione} is a novel small molecule agonist of EphA2 receptor tyrosine kinase. It showed much improved activity for the activation of EphA2 receptor compared with the parental compound doxazosin. To support further pharmacological and toxicological studies of the compound, a method using liquid chromatography and electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) has been developed for the quantification of this compound. Liquid-liquid extraction was used to extract the compound from mouse plasma and brain tissue homogenate. Reverse-phase chromatography with gradient elution was performed to separate compound 27 from the endogenous molecules in the matrix, followed by MS detection using positive ion multiple reaction monitoring mode. Multiple reaction monitoring transitions m/z 387.3 → 290.1 and m/z 384.1 → 247.1 were selected for monitoring compound 27 and internal standard prazosin, respectively. The linear calibration range was 2-200 ng/mL with the intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy within the acceptable range. This method was successfully applied to the quantitative analysis of compound 27 in mouse plasma and brain tissue with different drug administration routes., (© 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

The highly oriented modern detection techniques provide a precise and definite tool for investigation in natural medicines. Current study directed the standardization of eminent biomarker Vasicine in a natural cough syrup. A highly accurate and precise method of High-performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) has been developed to certify the quantity of vasicine inside the syrup. Ethyl acetate, chloroform, ethanol and ammonia (6:3:1: 1 v/v) were mobile phase for the study. The TLC plate silica gel G60F254 was used with CAMAG Scanner III and CAMAG Linomate 5. The detected Rf value was 0.51 in both sample and reference standard at 254 nm. International conference of Harmonization (ICH) guidelines were followed for the validation of the developed method. Linearity was achieved in the range of 200μg to 1600μg with co-efficient correlation r2=0.9995. Accuracy was found in between 98.9 to 101.4% however precision was good at both inter and intra-day. As per the standardization of ICH, the developed method was found to be reproducible and showed sharp similar peak with high resolution.

Nanocrystalline spinel ferrite nanoparticles [M x Co (1-x) Fe 2 O 4 ;(M = Zn,Cu,Mn;x = 0 and 0.5)] like: Cobalt ferrite (CFO), Zinc Cobalt ferrite (ZCFO), Copper Cobalt ferrite (CCFO), and Manganese Cobalt ferrite (MCFO) modified carbon paste electrodes (CPE) were synthesized via sol-gel technique utilizing citric acid and ethylene glycol as a polymerization agent. The synthesized ferrite NPs were used as bi-functional smart biosensor, not only used to determine the drug Anagrelide-HCl (ANDH) in urine and serum samples, but also possesses antimicrobial potential against some pathogenic microbes, founded in the biological samples. The synthesized ferrite NPs were confirmed by XRD, FTIR spectroscopy, SEM, EDX, and elemental mapping images. Antimicrobial activities of ferrite NPs against selected urinary tract infected microbes were investigated. From XRD data and FTIR spectroscopy it is found that the average crystallite size is lies in the range 12.86 to 33.92 ± 1.5 nm, also the bond lengths R A and R B increase from 1.8986 to 1.9145 Å and from 2.0434 to 2.0606 Å respectively and Debye temperature θ D lies in the range of 681.52-708.87 K. Our study describes the improvement of a screen-printed sensor, modified with ferrite NPs materials for rapid, sensitive and cost-effective quantification of ANDH present in the real samples such as blood serum samples, urine and in the pharmaceutical formulations. The results obtained postulate a linear regression between the ANDH charge density of peak current and its concentration in the range from (0.64-8.18 μg/ml) with DL 0.31 μg/ml and QL 0.94 μg/ml. Antimicrobial results indicated that ZCFO NPs were a novel antibacterial agent against Klebsiella pneumoniae (28.0 mm ZOI), and multidrug-resistant bacteria Enterococcus faecalis (27.0 mm ZOI). Additionally, ZCFO NPs were active against Candida albicans (18.0 mm ZOI) seems to be a smart antifungal agent. Therefore, ZCFO NPs can be used as applicant resources for industrial, medical, and biological applications., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Saracatinib (AZD-0530) is a drug under clinical trials that developed by AstraZeneca. It is considered a dual kinase inhibitor, with selective actions as a Src inhibitor and a Bcr-Abl tyrosine-kinase inhibitor. Saracatinib chemical structure contains N-methyl piperazine group and 1,3 benzodioxole group. N-methyl piperazine group that can be bioactivated to form iminium intermediates which can be captured by KCN. 1,3-Benzodioxole group can be bioactivated to form ortho-quinone intermediate that can be conjugated with GSH. The formed conjugates are stable and can be identified using LC-MS/MS. In our current work, we are trying to give insight into the reasons that may be responsible for saracatinib side effects. Using LC-MS/MS, in vitro metabolic pathways were investigated for saracatinib in rat liver microsomes. Ten saracatinib phase I metabolites were characterized and the metabolic pathways were found to be hydroxylation, oxidation, reduction, dealkylation, N-oxidation and ether cleavage. Also, four potential reactive intermediates (three cyanide adducts and one GSH conjugate) were identified and the bioactivation mechanisms were explained. The existence of these four reactive metabolites may be the main reason for observed saracatinib side effects in clinical trials. Literature review showed no previous articles have been proposed the detailed structural identification of the formed reactive metabolites., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A new, selective and sensitive spectrofluorimetric method was designed for the quantitation of doxazosin (DOX), terazosin (TER) and alfuzosin (ALF) in their dosage forms and human plasma. The method adopts efficient derivatization of the studied drugs with ortho-phthalaldehyde (OPA), in the presence of 2-mercaptoethanol in borate buffer (pH9.7) to generate a highly fluorescent isoindole derivatives, which can strongly enhance the fluorescence intensities of the studied drugs, allowing their sensitive determination at 430nm after excitation at 337nm. The fluorescence-concentration plots were rectilinear over the ranges (10.0-400.0) ng/mL. Detection and quantification limits were found to be (0.52-3.88) and (1.59-11.76) ng/mL, respectively. The proposed method was validated according to ICH guidelines, and successfully applied for the determination of pharmaceutical preparations of the studied drugs. Moreover, the high sensitivity of the proposed method permits its successful application to the analysis of the studied drugs in spiked human plasma with % recovery (96.12±1.34-100.66±0.57, n=3). A proposal for the reaction mechanism was presented., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance method(qNMR) was established for determination of the absolute content of febrifugine. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of febrifugine was obtained in DMSO-d₆ with hydroquinone as the internal standard substance on a Bruker Ascend 600 MHz superconducting nuclear resonance spectrometer at 298 K. The specific parameters were as follows: the observing frequency was 600 MHz,spectra width was 7 211 Hz, pulse width was 9.70 μs, pulse sequence was zg30,scan times was 32 and relaxation time was 2 s. The proton signal peaked at δ 7.71 for febrifugine and δ 6.55 for hydroquinone were selected as the quantification peaks. Linear regression of quantitative peak area ratio of febrifugine-hydroquinone versus their mass ratio yielded a correlation coefficient of 0.999 6 and a regression equation of Y=0.083 3X +0.008 6．The linear range of febrifugine was 2.17-17.07 g·L⁻¹,the precision RSD was 0.78%( n =6),the repeatability RSD was 1.2%( n =6),and the contents of three batches of febrifugine sample were 94.91%,95.09% and 95.52%,respectively. The content of febrifugine was 96.44% determined by high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC). The relative error of the content of febrigugine determinted by qNMR and HPLC methods was 1.27%. The results showed that the internal standard method of proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy could be used to determine the absolute content of febrifugine., Competing Interests: The authors of this article and the planning committee members and staff have no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose., (Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.)

A highly sensitive, cheap, simple and accurate spectrofluorimetric method has been developed and validated for the determination of alfuzosin hydrochloride and terazosin hydrochloride in their pharmaceutical dosage forms and in human plasma. The developed method is based on the reaction of the primary amine moiety in the studied drugs with acetylacetone and formaldehyde according to the Hantzsch reaction, producing yellow fluorescent products that can be measured spectrofluorimetrically at 480 nm after excitation at 415 nm. Different experimental parameters affecting the development and stability of the reaction products were carefully studied and optimized. The fluorescence-concentration plots of alfuzosin and terazosin were rectilinear over a concentration range of 70-900 ng ml -1 , with quantitation limits 27.1 and 32.2 ng ml -1 for alfuzosin and terazosin, respectively. The proposed method was validated according to ICH guidelines and successfully applied to the analysis of the investigated drugs in dosage forms, content uniformity test and spiked human plasma with high accuracy., (Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) have been used in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) for years with promising results, in particular in patients with activating mutations in the EGFR kinase domain (exon 19 E746-A750 deletion or exon 21 L858R point mutation). However, despite their great success in the clinic, a significant number of patients do not respond to EGFR-TKIs, such as those carrying the L858R/T790M mutation or EGFR wild type. Thus, detecting the EGFR mutation status before EGFR-TKIs therapy is essential to ensure its efficacy. In this study, we report a novel SPECT tracer 99mTc-HYNIC-MPG that binds specifically to activating mutant EGFR and which could therefore be used to noninvasively select patients sensitive to EGFR-TKIs. We evaluated the capacity of 99mTc-HYNIC-MPG in detecting EGFR-activating mutations both in vitro and in vivo using four human NSCLC cell lines (PC9, H1975, H358 and H520). 99mTc-HYNIC-MPG had significantly higher accumulation in PC9 tumor cells when compared to H1975, H358 and H520 tumors cells, which may be due to the activating mutations (exon 19 deletion) in EGFR tyrosine kinase domain in PC9 cells. Thus, 99mTc-HYNIC-MPG SPECT imaging may be used to identify NSCLC tumors with a potential high response rate to EGFR-TKIs.

Peganum harmala L. is a medicinal plant from the Mediterranean region and Asia currently used for recreative psychoactive purposes (Ayahuasca analogue), and increasingly involved in toxic cases. Its psychopharmacological and toxicological properties are attributed to quinazoline and β-carboline alkaloids. In this work three major quinazoline alkaloids were isolated from P. harmala extracts and characterized as peganine (vasicine), deoxypeganine (deoxyvasicine) and a novel compound identified by HPLC-DAD-MS and NMR as peganine β-d-glucopyranosyl-(1 → 6)-β-d-glucopyranoside (peganine glycoside). Peganine appeared in flowers and leaves in high levels; high amounts of deoxypeganine and peganine were found in immature and green fruits whereas peganine and peganine glycoside accumulated in high amount in dry seeds reaching up to 1 and 3.9% (w/w), respectively. Roots and stems contained low amount of quinazolines. Seeds extracts containing both quinazoline and β-carboline alkaloids potently inhibited human monoamine oxidase (MAO)-A. However, quinazoline alkaloids did not contribute to MAO inhibition that was due to β-carbolines, suggesting that MAO-related psychoactive or toxic actions do not arise from quinazolines. Quinazoline alkaloids were poor radical scavengers in the ABTS assay whereas seed extracts had good activity. Quinazoline alkaloids are known to exert bronchodilator and abortifacient actions, and could contribute to such effects reported in P. harmala., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Monitoring the interaction between drugs and proteins is critical to understanding drug transport and metabolism underlying pharmacodynamics. The binding capacities to human serum albumin of two anticancer drugs, capecitabine and gefitinib, were compared via an approach combining (19)F NMR, (1)H saturation transfer difference (STD) NMR, circular dichroism and docking simulations. Results showed that the two drugs interaction with human serum albumin caused (19)F NMR signal shifted to different directions. Capecitabine had accurate binding site and higher binding affinity than gefitinib. This study provided fresh insights into ligand-protein interaction and the strength of (19)F NMR approach in biomedical research was well illustrated in this case., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: BCRP/ABCG2 emerged as an important multidrug resistance protein, because it confers resistance to several classes of cancer chemotherapeutic agents and to a number of novel molecularly-targeted therapeutics such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Gefitinib is an orally active, selective EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor used in the treatment of patients with advanced non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) carrying activating EGFR mutations. Membrane transporters may affect the distribution and accumulation of gefitinib in tumour cells; in particular a reduced intracellular level of the drug may result from poor uptake, enhanced efflux or increased metabolism., Aim: The present study, performed in a panel of NSCLC cell lines expressing different ABCG2 plasma membrane levels, was designed to investigate the effect of the efflux transporter ABCG2 on intracellular gefitinib accumulation, by dissecting the contribution of uptake and efflux processes., Methods and Results: Our findings indicate that gefitinib, in lung cancer cells, inhibits ABCG2 activity, as previously reported. In addition, we suggest that ABCG2 silencing or overexpression affects intracellular gefitinib content by modulating the uptake rather than the efflux. Similarly, overexpression of ABCG2 affected the expression of a number of drug transporters, altering the functional activities of nutrient and drug transport systems, in particular inhibiting MPP, glucose and glutamine uptake., Conclusions: Therefore, we conclude that gefitinib is an inhibitor but not a substrate for ABCG2 and that ABCG2 overexpression may modulate the expression and activity of other transporters involved in the uptake of different substrates into the cells.

A rapid, simple and stability-indicating high-performance liquid chromatography assay method was developed and validated for quantitative analysis of lapatinib (LPT) in bulk pharmaceuticals. The newly developed method was assessed using a C18 MZ-Analytical column (5 µm, 150 × 4.6 mm, OSD-3), which was protected by a (5 µm, 4.0 × 4.6 mm, OSD-3) pre-column with mobile phase that was composed of acetonitrile and water (70/30, v/v) and a detection wave length of 227 nm. The method was validated according to the ICH guidelines with respect to precision, accuracy, linearity, robustness, specificity and system suitability. Forced degradation studies were also performed for LPT to determine the stability-indicating aspect of developed method. The method was found to be specific for LPT in the presence of degradation products. The retention time of LPT was ∼4 min. Accuracy of the method was found to be 2.20% bias for all tested samples. The inter- and intra-day precision of the novel method were found to be 2.84 and 2.78%, respectively. The calibration curve was linear over the concentration range of 5-80 µg/mL with a regression coefficient of 0.9990. The limits of detection and quantification were also found to be 1 and 5 µg/mL, respectively. Mass spectrometry analysis was performed in order to better characterize degraded products., (© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Mixed micelle cloud point extraction (MM-CPE) combined with magnetic dispersive μ-solid phase extraction (MD-μ-SPE) has been developed as a new approach for the extraction of doxazosin (DOX) and alfuzosin (ALF) prior to fluorescence analysis. The mixed micelle anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate and non-ionic polyoxyethylene(7.5)nonylphenylether was used as the extraction solvent in MM-CPE, and diatomite bonding Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles were used as the adsorbent in MD-μ-SPE. The method was based on MM-CPE of DOX and ALF in the surfactant-rich phase. Magnetic materials were used to retrieve the surfactant-rich phase, which easily separated from the aqueous phase under magnetic field. At optimum conditions, a linear relationship between DOX and ALF was obtained in the range of 5-300 ng mL(-1), and the limits of detection were 0.21 and 0.16 ng mL(-1), respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied for the determination of the drugs in pharmaceutical preparations, urine samples, and plasma samples., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Analysis of drug and metabolite distribution is essential for understanding of the mechanisms underlying the pharmacological or toxicological effects. MS imaging (MSI) can visualize the distribution of drugs or biological molecules in tissue sections without radiolabeling, and distinguish between the distribution of a drug and that of its metabolites in tissue sections. Therefore, it is expected to be a potent imaging technique for drug distribution studies. This article includes cases in which MSI was used to analyze drug and metabolite distribution, and discusses the impact of data obtained by MSI in drug discovery and development.

The aim of the present study is to characterize the distribution of tryptanthrin (TRYP) in rat tissues following oral administration at a dose of 100 mg/kg and its relationship with meridian tropism (MT) of indigo naturalis (IN) in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). For quantitative analysis in biological samples, a sensitive, inexpensive and accurate high-performance liquid chromatographic method was developed and validated with 2-hydroxy acetophenone as internal standard, a Shimadzu C18 column and water-acetonitrile (55:45, v/v) as mobile phase. Acceptable intra-day and inter-day precision at high, medium and low concentration was acquired with RSD ranging from 0.87 to 5.22% and from 1.25 to 6.47%, respectively. Good assay and extraction recoveries were obtained with a single and relatively fast step to precipitate protein. The extraction recovery of TRYP ranged from 87.5 to 94.5 %. TRYP concentration was highest in the liver and remained for a much longer time than in other tissues. It could also be detected in kidney, lung, heart and spleen, but not in brain under the experimental conditions. The results confirmed the traditional knowledge of TCM that MT of IN belongs to the liver meridians and demonstrated that TRYP is one of the active constituents of the MT of IN., (Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

The aim of this study was to establish an ex vivo model for a faster optimisation of sample preparation procedures, for example matrix choice, in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation (MALDI) drug imaging studies. The ionisation properties of four drugs, afatinib, erlotinib, irinotecan and pirfenidone, were determined in an ex vivo tissue experiment by spotting decreasing dilution series onto liver sections. Hereby, the drug signals were distinctly detectable using different matrix compounds, which allowed the selection of the optimal matrix for each drug. The analysis of afatinib and erlotinib yielded high drug signals with α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid matrix, whereas 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid was identified as optimal matrix for irinotecan and pirfenidone detection. Our method was validated by a MALDI drug imaging approach of in vivo treated mouse tissue resulting in corresponding findings, indicating the spotting method as an appropriate approach to determine the matrix of choice. The present study shows the accordance between the detection of ex vivo spotted drugs and in vivo administered drugs by MALDI-TOF and MALDI-FT-ICR imaging, which has not been demonstrated so far. Our data suggest the ex vivo tissue spotting method as an easy and reliable model to optimise MALDI imaging measurements and to predict drug detection in tissue sections derived from treated mice prior to the recruitment of laboratory animals, which helps to save animals, time and costs.

A fast chromatographic separation of indole alkaloids from Evodiae fructus was developed by supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC). The initial screening of four stationary phases was investigated with a standard mixture of evodiamine and rutaecarpine, and a complex sample of indole alkaloids prepared from Evodiae fructus as probes. Later, the effects of chromatographic parameters on separation were studied including injection volume, organic modifier, additive, temperature and back pressure. The injection volume had significant impact on the peak shape. With the additives in the mobile phase, slight changes in peak shape and retention time were observed in separation. Variation in organic modifier led to dramatic change in chromatographic behavior. Both decreased temperature and increased back pressure shortened the retention time. Finally, a fast analytical method using SFC, on a Waters ACQUITY UPC2 BEH column, methanol as modifier, under 35 degrees C and 2.07 x 10(7) Pa, was developed to separate a complex sample of indole alkaloids in less than 15 min. Another rapid approach for the separation of a complex sample of indole alkaloids was developed by using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC). As a result, SFC can be used in the separation of natural products, giving high performance, good resolution and fast analysis speed. The difference in selectivity with UHPLC can be used to the development of natural product separation.

A simple and reliable high-performance liquid chromatography method with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of six bioactive components, rutaevine, limonin, evodiamine, rutaecarpine, N-formyldihydrorutaecarpine and dihydroevocarpine, in the traditional Chinese medicine Evodiae Fructus (Wuzhuyu in Chinese). HPLC separation was conducted on an Agilent Eclipse C18 column (4.6 × 150 mm, 5 µm) at 35°C with a mixture of mobile phase A [tetrahydrofuran-0.02% phosphoric acid (16 : 35)] and mobile phase B (acetonitrile) (gradient elution as follows: 0 min, 22% B; 23 min, 22% B; 24 min, 75% B) at a flow rate of 1 mL/min, and the DAD detection wavelength was set at 220 nm. A linear relationship within the range of investigated concentrations was observed for the six compounds, with correlation coefficients greater than 0.999. The average recovery yields of the six compounds ranged from 98.39 to 104.96%. The HPLC-DAD method was validated by its repeatability [relative standard deviation (RSD) < 2.0%] and intra-day and inter-day precision (RSD < 2.0%). The method was successfully applied to the simultaneous determination of the six previously mentioned components in Evodiae Fructus. It is the first report of a simultaneous qualitative and quantitative analysis for three classes of bioactive components in Wuzhuyu, including the indolequinazoline alkaloids, quinolone alkaloid and limonoids. Based on these results, it is suggested, for possible future revision of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, that the total contents of evodiamine and rutaecarpine are not less than 0.15% and the total contents of rutaevine and limonin are not less than 0.50%.

Gefitinib (Iressa®) is a selective inhibitor of epidermal growth factor, a growth factor that plays a pivotal role in the control of cell growth, apoptosis, and angiogenesis. Gefitinib is clinically used for the treatment of chemoresistant non-small cell lung cancer patients. Gefitinib is freely soluble in dimethylsulphoxide but slightly soluble in methanol and ethanol. Several methods of gefitinib synthesis are included in this review. UV spectroscopy of gefitinib showed a λmax of approximately 331nm, whereas IR spectroscopy principal peaks were observed at 3400cm(-1) (NH), 2956cm(-1) (CH2, CH, alkyl), 1625cm(-1) (CC, CN), 1500cm(-1) (HCCH, aryl), 1110cm(-1) (CO), 1028cm(-1) (CF). In addition, different analytical methods for determination of gefitinib are also described in this review. Pharmacokinetically, after oral administration, gefitinib is slowly absorbed with bioavailability of approximately 60% in human. Gefitinib is metabolized extensively in the liver into five metabolites by cytochrome P450s, primarily by CYP3A4 and to a lesser extent by CYP3A5 and CYP2D6. Gefitinib is eliminated mainly hepatically with total plasma clearance of 595mL/min after intravenous administration. Most of the adverse effects associated with gefitinib therapy are mild to moderate in severity and are usually reversible and manageable with appropriate intervention, such as diarrhea, dry skin, rash, nausea, and vomiting., (© 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Allitinib, also known as AST1306, is a novel irreversible inhibitor of the epidermal growth factor receptors 1 and 2. Allitinib is currently used in clinical trial to treat solid tumors. A previous study showed that allitinib is extensively metabolized in humans. Amide hydrolysis metabolite (M6) and 29,30-dihydrodiol allitinib (M10) are the major metabolites in circulation. To study the pharmacokinetics of allitinib and its two major metabolites in cancer patients, a rapid, sensitive and reliable LC-MS/MS method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of allitinib, M6 and M10 in human plasma. After simple protein precipitation, the analytes and the combined internal standards (lapatinib and NB-2, an analog of allitinib) were separated on a Zorbax Eclipase XDB C18 column (50 mm × 4.6 mm, 1.8 μm, Agilent) using a mobile phase of 5 mM ammonium acetate with 0.1% formic acid (phase A) and 50% (v/v) methanol in acetonitrile (phase B) with gradient elution. Mass spectrometric detection was conducted by atmospheric-pressure chemical ionization in positive ion multiple reaction monitoring modes using AB Sciex Triple Quad 6500 system. Linear calibration curves were obtained for the following concentration range: 0.300-200 ng/ml for allitinib; 0.030-20.0 ng/ml for M6; and 0.075-50.0 ng/ml for M10. Intra-day and inter-day accuracy and precision were within the acceptable limits of ±15% at all of the concentrations. The method was successfully applied to a preliminary clinical pharmacokinetic study following oral administration of allitinib tosylate tablets in cancer patients., (© 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A rapid, sensitive and selective flow injection analysis (FIA) method was developed for the determination of some selective α1-blockers including; terazosin (TER), doxazosin (DOX), prazosin (PRZ), and alfuzosin (ALF). The method was based on enhancement of the native fluorescence of the studied drugs in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). The method was optimized for the buffer type, concentration and pH, surfactant type and concentration, flow rate and detection wavelengths in order to achieve the maximum sensitivity. The results showed that the best sensitivity was obtained by using SDS (10 mM) in phosphate buffer (20 mM, pH = 3), flow rate was 0.5 ml/min and the detector was set at λex = 250 and λem = 389. Under these optimum conditions there was a linear relationship between the concentration and the fluorescence intensity in the range from 5-400 ng ml(-) with correlation coefficient of more than 0.998. The detection and quantitation limits for the studied drugs by the proposed method were 3.2-11.9 ng ml(-1) and 10.8-39.7 ng ml(-1), respectively. The method was validated in accordance with the requirements of ICH guidelines and shown to be suitable for intended applications. Moreover, the binding constants for α1-blockers -SDS system were determined using the adduct model. The proposed method has been applied successfully for the analysis of the pure forms for studied drugs and also their pharmaceutical formulations and the results were compared with official methods.

A rapid, simple and sensitive chiral HPLC method was developed and validated for quantification of biologically important alkaloids namely evodiamine enantiomers and rutaecarpine in Evodiae fructus using diphenhydramine as the internal standard (IS). Chromatographic separations were performed on a Chiralpak AD-H column (250 mm × 4.6 mm i.d., 5 μm) with elution of n-hexane-2-propanol-ethanol (70:20:10, v/v/v) in a flow rate of 0.7 ml/min and at λmax 225 nm. To identify the order of elution, small quantities of the each evodiamine enantiomer were isolated by semi preparative HPLC method. Extraction samples were prepared by a simple solid phase extraction (SPE) method. All calibration curves showed good linearity (r(2)≥0.999) within the test ranges. The LOD and LOQ were lower than 0.05 and 0.1 μg/ml, respectively. The RSDs of intra- and interday for relative peak areas of three analytes to IS were less than 3.2 and 2.5%, respectively, and the recoveries were 98.0-103.7%. The validated method was successfully applied to the quantitative analysis of three constituents in 13 batches of samples collected from market. The results showed that S-(+)-evodiamine was the main component while R-(-)-evodiamine was present in low concentration. This study provides a qualitative and quantitative method for analysis of evodiamine enantiomers and rutaecarpine, and should be extendable to pharmacological and toxicological studies of the individual evodiamine enantiomers., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A sensitive, rapid, and specific liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry assay has been established and validated for the quantitation of evodiamine and evodine in Beagle dog plasma. Plasma samples of 0.2 ml were processed by liquid-liquid extraction with n-hexane/ethyl acetate (2:1, v/v). Chromatographic separations were done on a Symmetry C18 column (100 mm × 4.6 mm, ID, 5 μm) at 35°C with a linear gradient of methanol and 20 mM ammonium formate containing 0.2% formic acid. Evodiamine, evodine, and glibenclamide [internal standard (IS)] were ionized with an electrospray ionization source operated in positive ion mode. The MS/MS transitions were m/z 304.1 → 161.1 for evodiamine, m/z 471.2 → 425.1 for evodine, and m/z 494.1 → 369.1 for IS. Calibration curves were linear over the concentration range of 0.1-100 ng/ml for evodiamine and 0.5-500 ng/ml for evodine. The mean extraction recoveries were 88.10 ± 3.21% for evodiamine and 81.24 ± 4.07% for evodine. The intra- and inter-day precisions were less than 11.10% and 12.81%, and the accuracy was within ± 11.76% for both analytes. Evodiamine and evodine were stable during storage and analytical periods. The validated method has been successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of evodiamine and evodine in beagle dogs after oral administration.

Cell membrane chromatography (CMC) is a biological affinity chromatographic method using specific cell membrane as stationary phase. It has been proved to be a practical tool for investigating binding interactions between drugs and membrane receptors. In this study, a novel comprehensive two-dimensional (2D) chromatography approach was established for screening anti-tumor components from herbal medicines (HMs). HepG2/CMC model was first developed and applied as the first dimensional column. Using an automatic ten-port switching valve equipped with two sample loops, the fractions of the first-dimension were introduced in the second-dimension consists of a monolithic column and a time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) with high resolving ability. Based on the stability, selectivity and suitability assays of the HepG2/CMC/monolithic column/TOFMS system, berberine (BBR) and tetrahydropalmatine (THP) from Cortex phellodendri amurensis, oxymatrine and matrine from Radix sophorae flavescentis were screened and identified as potential active components. The competitive displacement assay suggested that the four components could act on epidermal growth factor receptor region on the HepG2 cell membrane in similar manner of gefitinib. Furthermore, their inhibiting effects on cell proliferation in vitro were also confirmed and, BBR and THP showed concentration dependently inhibitory ability on HepG2 cell proliferation (p<0.05). The result demonstrated that the proposed comprehensive 2D HepG2/CMC/monolithic column/TOFMS system has the advantages of strong recognition and rapid analysis abilities for the total screening procedure, which will be selectable and practical in drug discovery from complex HM samples and can also be applied to other biochromatography models., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Wu-Chu-Yu is a well-known herbal drug used for hypertension. Rutaecarpine and evodiamine are main bioactive components of the medicine., Materials and Methods: A sensitive and specific HPLC method was developed to analyze rutaecarpine (Rut) and evodiamine (Evo) in rat whole blood. The pharmacokinetics of Rut and Evo after oral administration of Wu-Chu-Yu extracts with different purities to rats was compared to evaluate the effect of purity of Wu-Chu-Yu extracts on the absorption of Rut and Evo. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were given Wu-Chu-Yu extracts with different purities (high, medium and low) approximately the same doses of equivalent to Rut (40 mg/kg) and Evo (31 mg/kg). The contents of Rut and Evo were 45 and 35%, 28 and 21%, 9 and 7% in high, medium and low purity extracts, respectively. At different time points (0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3 and 4h) after administration, the concentrations of Rut and Evo in rat whole blood were determined by HPLC, and main pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated., Results: The results indicated that the absorption of Rut and Evo in Wu-Chu-Yu extracts was improved when compared with the pure Rut and Evo and there were significant differences among different groups., Conclusions: The bioavailability of Rut and Evo was increased along with the increasing of purity (16%-80%) in Wu-Chu-Yu extracts., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A simple and rapid reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for the simultaneous separation and determination of erlotinib and its process-related impurities in bulk drugs has been developed. Five process-related impurities of erlotinib have been separated on an Inerstsil ODS-3V (C18) column and detected at 254 nm using a photo diode array (PDA). This HPLC method was successfully applied to the analysis of erlotinib bulk drug. The recoveries of erlotinib and process-related impurities were in the range of 92.86-106.23%, and found to be specific, precise and reliable for the determination of unreacted raw materials, intermediates in the reaction mixtures and bulk drugs.

A new high performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) assay for cediranib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor for VEGFRs, was developed and validated, for the determination of plasma and brain levels of cediranib in small specimen volumes. Tyrphostin (AG1478) was used as internal standard. Mouse plasma and brain homogenate samples were prepared using liquid-liquid extraction. The assay was validated for a 2.5-2500 ng/mL concentration range for plasma, and for 1-2000 ng/mL range for brain homogenate. For these calibration ranges, within-assay variabilities were 1.1-14.3% for plasma and 1.5-9.4% for brain homogenate; between-assay variabilities were 2.4-9.2% for plasma, and 4.9-10.2% for brain homogenate. Overall accuracy ranged from 101.5 to 107.0% for plasma and 96.5 to 100.2% for brain homogenate, for all target concentrations. The developed assay has been successfully applied for a brain distribution study in mice at an oral dose of 5 mg/kg., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A POCl(3)-mediated, direct amination reaction of heterocyclic amides/ureas with NH-heterocycles or N-substituted anilines is described. Compared to the existing methods, this operationally simple protocol provides unique reactivity and functional group compatibility because of the metal-free, acidic reaction conditions. The yields are generally excellent.

Degradation of fenazaquin in sandy loam soil was investigated under field and laboratory conditions. Fenazaquin (Magister 10EC) was applied @ 125 and 250 g a.i./ha in field and in pot under field capacity moisture in laboratory. Samples drawn periodically were analyzed on GC-NPD. The residues of fenazaquin in both the doses and conditions dissipated almost 90% in 90 days. Half-life period were 32.04 and 31.35 days at two doses, respectively at field conditions and 30.10 and 28.94 days at laboratory conditions. Dissipation was approximated to first order kinetics in both conditions having correlation coefficient ranging from -0.9848 to -0.9914.

Objective: To develop a HPLC method for the determination of evodiamine and rutacarpine in Zhuyu Hewei Zhitong capsules., Method: The separation was performed at 30 degrees C on an Eclipse XDB-C18 column (4.6 mm x 150 mm, 5 microm) eluted with the mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile-water(45:55). The detection wavelength was 250 nm., Results: The standard curve for evodiamine is linear in the range of 0.0510-0.560 microg, the average recovery was 97.5% (RSD 1.0%). The standard curve for rutacarpine is linear in the range of 0.0508-0.559 microg, the average recovery was 98.7% (RSD 1.5%)., Conclusion: The method is specific, accurate and stable. It can be used for detemination of evodiamine and rutacarpine in Zhuyu Hewei Zhitong capsules.

Objective: To study the relationship among processing methods and chemical compounds., Method: HPLC was used to compare the difference between pre and post processing. The main peaks in chromatogram were identified and divided into groups of chemical compounds. The contents of identified compounds and groups of chemical compounds were also analyzed., Result: The chromatographic peaks were divided into three groups of chemical compounds that were flavonoid glocosides, uinazoline alkaloids and bitter principle, indoloquinazoline alkaloids. The contents of flavonoid glocosides were reduced in each processed product, and that in hot-water processing product were the least. The contents of all three groups of chemical compounds were decreased in Coptidis Rhizoma processing products. The dissolving release of quinolones alkaloids were increased in wine, salt, Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma and ginger processing products., Conclusion: Different processing methods caused different changes of chemical compounds.

A HPLC method for determination of limonin, evodiamine and rutaecarpine in Evodia rutaecarpa was optimized. The mobile phase was [acetonitrile-tetrahydrofuran (25: 15)] -0.02% H3 PO4 (35:65). The detection wavelength was 220 nm and the flow rate was 1.0 mL x min(-1). Limonin, evodiamine and rutaecarpine were all well separated from other substances and their UV spectrums were essentially the same to the standards . The liner ranges of limonin, evodiamine and rutaecarpine were 0.196 8-3.936, 0.153 6-3.072, 0.097 4-1.948 microg. The average recoveries were 97.8%, 100.7% and 98.4%. RSD were 1.7%, 1.3% and 1.1% (n = 6). The method of this article is accurate, reproducible and can be used to enhance the quality control of E. rutaecarpa.

Evodiamine and rutaecarpine have been intensively studied due to their pharmacological actions and clinical applications. In this report, supercritical fluid was used to extract evodiamine and rutaecarpine from the unripe fruit of Evodia rutaecarpa. Response surface methodology using Box-Behnken experimental design was utilized to optimize parameters for supercritical carbon dioxide extraction with methanol as co-solvent. The effect of various values of dynamic extraction time (30-90min), temperature (50-70°C) and pressure (200-400bar) on extraction yields of the two compounds was evaluated. Determinations of the extracts were performed by high-performance liquid chromatography. The experimental data obtained were fitted to second-order polynomial equations and analyzed by analysis of variance. The highest yields predicted were 1.217mg/g for evodiamine and 0.969mg/g for rutaecarpine at the optimal values (time 78min, temperature 62°C, pressure 280bar and co-solvent flow rate 0.4mL/min), based on the selected range of experimental conditions., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Seeds of wild Peganum harmala Linn., P. multisectum (Maxim) Bobr., P. nigellastrum Bunge and a probable indeterminate species, herein referred to as P. variety, are commonly used in Chinese medicine. These seeds cannot be differentiated based on morphology., Objective: Seeds of P. harmala Linn., P. multisectum (Maxim) Bobr., P. nigellastrum Bunge and P. variety were collected in different provinces in China and their HPLC profiles were recorded for statistical analysis and pattern recognition.Methodology - HPLC chromatograms of seed extracts were recorded under the same conditions. Individual HPLC chromatograms for each species were evaluated against the mean chromatogram for the same species generated using a similarity evaluation computer program. Data from chromatographic fingerprints were also processed using principal component analysis (PCA), hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA)., Results: The Peganum sp. seed extracts had similar HPLC fingerprints but with some inter-specific differences. The chromatographic fingerprints combined with PCA, HCA and LDA could distinguish the seeds of the different species of Peganum investigated., Conclusion: HPLC fingerprints can be used to authenticate and differentiate the seeds of three different species of genus Peganum indigenous to China. The results indicated that the unidentified P. variety might indeed be a new species or variety., ((c) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Fenazaquin (4-[[4 (1,1-dimethylethyl) phenyl] ethoxy]quinazoline) is a new acaricide of the quinazoline class. Residue levels of fenazaquin were determined in unprocessed and processed okra fruits to evaluate the effect of different processes (washing, boiling and washing followed by boiling) in reduction of residues of this pesticide in okra. The study was carried out on okra crop (Variety, Varsha Uphar) in research farm of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar with application of fenazaquin (Magister 10 EC) @ 125 ga.i./ha (Single Dose, T(1)) and 250 g a.i./ha (Double Dose, T(2)). Samples of okra fruits were collected on 0, 3, 7, 15 days after treatment and at harvest (30 days). Residues were estimated by gas chromatograph equipped with capillary column and nitrogen phosphorus detector. Residues reached below maximum residue limit of 0.01 mg/kg at harvest. The residues dissipated with half-life period of 3.13 days at lower dose and 4.43 days at higher dose. Processing is shown to be very effective in reducing the levels of fenazaquin residues in okra fruits. Maximum reduction (60-61%) was observed by washing + boiling followed by boiling/cooking (38-40%) and then by washing (31-32%).

A highly sensitive and selective liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method has been developed to quantify cellular levels of the tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) dasatinib (Sprycel) and lapatinib (Tykerb, Tyverb). Cellular samples were extracted with a tert-butyl methyl ether:acetonitrile (3:1, v/v):1 M ammonium formate pH 3.5 (8:1, v/v) mixture. Separation was achieved on a Hyperclone BDS C18 (150 mm x 2.0 mm 3 microm) column with isocratic elution using a mobile phase of acetonitirile-10 mM ammonium formate, pH 4 (54:46, v/v), at a flow rate of 0.2 mL/min. The TKIs were quantified using a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer which was operated in multi-reaction-monitoring mode employing positive electrospray ionisation. The limit of detection and limit of quantification for lapatinib was determined to be 15 and 31 pg on column, respectively. The limit of detection and quantification for dasatinib was 3 and 15 pg on column, respectively. The method allowed for sensitive and accurate determination of cellular levels of dasatinib and lapatinib. In addition, we examined the potential for this method to be utilised to quantitate other TKIs, using gefitinib, erlotinib, imatinib and sorafenib as examples. In principle, these agents were also quantifiable by this method, however, no drug specific validation studies were undertaken with these TKIs. The data indicates that in the cancer cell-line model, DLKP, significantly more lapatinib accumulates in cells in comparison to dasatinib. Additionally, over-expression of the membrane protein drug transporter, P-glycoprotein (P-gp) a common cancer drug resistance mechanism, greatly reduces the cellular accumulation of dasatinib but not of lapatinib.

Objective: To develop a Quantitative Assay of Multi-components by Single - marker (QAMS) for simultaneous determination of three components in Fructus Evodiae, and examine the feasibility of using the relative correction factors between the different types of compounds., Method: Rutaecarpine was selected as the internal reference substance; the relative correction factors of evodin and evodiamine were calculated. The contents of three components in 11 batches of samples were determined by both external standard method and QAMS. The validity of the QAMS method was evaluated by comparison of their quantitative results., Result: No obvious differences (RSD < 5%) were found in the quantitative results of evodin and evodiamine in 11 batches of Fructus Evodiae determined by the two methods., Conclusion: It is feasible and suitable to determine evodin and evodiamine in Fructus Evodiae by QAMS, and this method can be used for a certain different types of compounds.

A simple, selective and sensitive reversed phase liquid chromatography method utilizing ultraviolet detection has been developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of the prodrug AZD1152 and its active product AZD1152-hydroxyquinazoline pyrazol anilide (hQPA) in human and mouse plasma and mouse tissues. Isocratic separation was achieved using an 5mum UptiSphere HDO C-18 column (150 mm x 4.6 mm) with guard column in combination with a mobile phase comprised of phosphate buffered water (50 mM; pH 3.4) and acetonitrile (81.5: 18.5; v/v). UV detection at 318 nm was used. Sample preparation involved a single-step protein precipitation with ethanol. Ex vivo conversion of AZD1152 by endogenous phosphatases was prevented by immediate cooling of the samples in ice-water and addition of sodium fluoride and EDTA. The validation parameters included specificity, recovery, accuracy, precision, sensitivity and stability. The lower limit of quantification in human plasma for AZD1152 and hQPA was 25 ng/ml. The applicability of the method was demonstrated by successful determination of AZD1152 and hQPA in human plasma and in plasma, brain, liver, kidney and ileum samples from mice dosed with AZD1152.

Gefitinib (Iressa) is a selective inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase. Recent studies confirmed that gefitinib interacted with the breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) at submicromolar concentrations, whereas other multidrug transporters, including P-glycoprotein (P-gp), showed much lower reactivity toward gefitinib. Recently, many tracers for positron emission tomography (PET) have been prepared to study P-gp function in vivo; however, PET tracers had not been evaluated for both P-gp and BCRP modulation in the brain. Therefore, we evaluated in vivo brain penetration-mediated P-gp and BCRP in mice using [(11)C]gefitinib. Co-injection with gefitinib (over 50 mg/kg), a nonspecific P-gp modulator cyclosporin A (50 mg/kg), and the dual P-gp and BCRP modulator GF120918 (over 5 mg/kg) induced an increase in the brain uptake of [(11)C]gefitinib in mice 30 min after injection. In the PET study of mice, the radioactivity level in the brain with co-injection of GF120918 (5 mg/kg) was three- to fourfold higher than that in control after initial uptake. The radioactivity level in the brain in P-gp and Bcrp knockout mice was approximately eightfold higher than that in wild-type mice 60 min after injection. In conclusion, [(11)C]gefitinib is a promising PET tracer to evaluate the penetration of gefitinib into the brain by combined therapy with P-gp or BCRP modulators, and into brain tumors. Furthermore, PET study with GF120918 is a promising approach for evaluating brain penetration-mediated P-gp and BCRP.

A simple, sensitive and accurate HPLC-DAD method was developed for simultaneous determination of wuchuyuamide-I, quercetin, limonin, evodiamine and rutaecarpine in Evodia rutaecarpa that has been widely used as one of the traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs). Chromatographic separations were performed on a reverse-phase C(18) column with the gradient elution of acetonitrile-water and the simultaneous detection at five wavelengths. Good linear behaviors over the investigated concentration ranges were observed with the values of r higher than 0.999 for all the analytes. The recoveries measured at three levels varied from 98.77 to 102.36%. The validated method was successfully applied for the simultaneous determination of the five chemical constituents in 36 batches of samples collected from different regions or time that were investigated and authenticated as E. rutaecarpa (Juss.) Benth. Hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) and principal components analysis (PCA) were performed to differentiate and classify the samples based on the contents of the five characteristic constituents. The total contents of evodiamine and rutaecarpine in different samples were calculated and the blending method proposed was demonstrated to be very useful in saving resources and in guiding rational herb use.

Peganum harmala Linn. seed is a reputed drug of the Indian systems of medicine. We report a simple high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) densitometric method for the quantification of 4 alkaloids, viz., harmine, harmaline, vasicine, and vasicinone from P. harmala seed. The 4 compounds were resolved in ethyl acetate-methanol-ammonia (7 + 1 + 0.3, v/v/v) mobile phase. The method was validated for precision, repeatability, and accuracy. Instrumental precision was 0.27, 1.53, 0.39, and 1.15% [relative standard deviation (RSD)] and repeatability of the method was 1.01, 0.79, 0.13, and 1.62% RSD for harmine, harmaline, vasicine, and vasicinone, respectively. Accuracy of the method was checked by a recovery study conducted at 3 different levels, and the average recovery was 97.88% for harmine, 97.69% for harmaline, 98.38% for vasicine, and 98.28% for vasicinone. The 4 compounds were quantified in P. harmala seed using the method, and it was found to contain 0.44, 0.096, 0.25, and 0.0007% (w/w) of each, respectively. The proposed HPTLC densitometric method for the quantification of the 4 compounds was found to be simple, precise, specific, sensitive, and accurate. It can be used for routine quality control of P. harmala seed and has the ability to quantify the 4 marker compounds in the formulations containing P. harmala. It also can be used to quantify any of these marker compounds in other herbal drugs.