• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.21-24
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• 2010

The development of clinical biomarkers involves discovery, verification, and validation. Recently, multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) coupled with stable isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS) has shown considerable promise for the direct quantification of proteins in clinical samples. In particular, multiple biomarkers have been tracked in a single experiment using MRM-based MS approaches combined with liquid chromatography. We report here a highly reproducible, quantitative, and dynamic MRM system for validating multi-biomarker proteins using Nanoflow HPLC-Microfluidics Chip/Triple-Quadrupole MS. In this system, transitions were acquired only during the retention window of each eluting peptide. Transitions with the highest MRM-MS intensities for the five target peptides from colon cancer biomarker candidates were automatically selected using Optimizer software. Relative to the corresponding non-dynamic system, the dynamic MRM provided significantly improved coefficients of variation in experiments with large numbers of transitions. Linear responses were obtained with concentrations ranging from fmol to pmol for five target peptides.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.539-549
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• 2019

Background: 20(S)-Protopanaxadiol (PPD), the aglycone part of 20(S)-protopanaxadiol ginsenosides, possesses antidepressant activity among many other pharmacological activities. It is currently undergoing clinical trial in China as an antidepressant. Methods: In this study, an ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole time-of-flight mass tandem mass spectrometry method was established to identify the metabolites of PPD in human plasma and urine following oral administration in phase IIa clinical trial. Results: A total of 40 metabolites in human plasma and urine were identified using this method. Four metabolites identified were isolated from rat feces, and two of them were analyzed by NMR to elucidate the exact structures. The structures of isolated compounds were confirmed as (20S,24S)-epoxydammarane-12,23,25-triol-3-one and (20S,24S)-epoxydammarane-3,12,23,25-tetrol. Both compounds were found as metabolites in human for the first time. Upon comparing our findings with the findings of the in vitro study of PPD metabolism in human liver microsomes and human hepatocytes, metabolites with m/z 475.3783 and phase II metabolites were not found in our study whereas metabolites with m/z 505.3530, 523.3641, and 525.3788 were exclusively detected in our experiments. Conclusion: The metabolites identified using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry in our study were mostly hydroxylated metabolites. This indicated that PPD was metabolized in human body mainly through phase I hepatic metabolism. The main metabolites are in 20,24-oxide form with multiple hydroxylation sites. Finally, the metabolic pathways of PPD in vivo (human) were proposed based on structural analysis.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.105-114
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• 2020

Background: Exploring the pharmacokinetic (PK) changes of various active components of single herbs and their combinations is necessary to elucidate the compatibility mechanism. However, the lack of chemical standards and low concentrations of multiple active ingredients in the biological matrix restrict PK studies. Methods: A putative multiple reaction monitoring strategy based on liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was developed to extend the PK scopes of quantification without resorting to the use of chemical standards. First, the compounds studied, including components with available reference standard (ARS) and components lacking reference standard (LRS), were preclassified to several groups according to their chemical structures. Herb decoctions were then subjected to ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry analysis with appropriate collision energy (CE) in MS² mode. Finally, multiple reaction monitoring transitions transformed from MS² of ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry were used for ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry to obtain the mass responses of LRS components. LRS components quantification was further performed by developing an assistive group-dependent semiquantitative method. Results: The developed method was exemplified by the comparative PK process of single herbs Radix Ginseng (RG), Radix Polygala (RP), and their combinations (RG-RP). Significant changes in PK parameters were observed before and after combination. Conclusion: Results indicated that Traditional Chinese Medicine combinations can produce synergistic effects and diminish possible toxic effects, thereby reflecting the advantages of compatibility. The proposed strategy can solve the quantitative problem of LRS and extend the scopes of PK studies.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.105-111
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• 2015

Sixteen compounds of Neobalanocarpus heimii were successfully identified directly from their plant extract using a triple quadrupole LC-MS/MS system. In order to fulfil the objectives of this work, a series of stilbene oligomers of various degrees of condensation were isolated and their structure are characterized. Out of these, four are resveratrol dimers, three trimers, and nine tetramers. The isolation process was done on a fully automated semi-preparative HPLC system. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of 1D- and 2D-NMR as well as MS data. The mass fragmentation patterns of the compounds were recorded and a retrievable in-house library was built to keep the data. In order to demonstrate the potential of this approach, the polyphenolic crude extract was analysed with the LC-MS/MS system and the MS/MS spectra extracted for each chromatographic peak of interest. The fragmentation patterns were compared with those of anticipated pure compounds that were previously recorded. All compounds were successfully identified. It is therefore believed that the LC-MS/MS potential for dereplication of structurally similar compounds in a crude mixture was thus firmly established.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Tobacco Science
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.117-124
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• 2008

A solid phase microextraction (SPME) method in combination with gas chromatography/mass spectrometric techniques was used for the extraction and quantification of 12 selected agrochemical residues in tobacco. The parameters such as the type of SPME fiber, adsorption/desorption time and the extraction temperature affecting the precision and accuracy of the SPME method were investigated and optimized. Among three types of fibers investigated, polyacrylate (PA), polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and polydimethylsiloxane-divinylbenzene (PDMS-DVB), PDMS fiber was selected for the extractions of the agrochemicals. The SPME device was automated and on-line coupled to a gas chromatograph with a mass spectrometer. Mass spectrometry (MS) was used and two different instruments, a quadrupole MS and triple quadrupole MS-MS mode, were compared. The performances of the two GC-MS instruments were comparable in terms of linearity (in the range of 0.01$\sim$0.5 $\mu$g/mL) and sensitivity (limits of detection were in the low ng/mL range). The triple quadrupole MS-MS instrument gave better precision than that of quadrupole MS system, but generally the relative standard deviations for replicates were acceptable for both instruments (< 15%). The LODs was fully satisfied the requirements of the CORESTA GRL. Recoveries of 12 selected agrochemicals in tobacco yielded more than 80% and reproducibility was found to be better than 10% RSD so that SPME procedure could be applied to the quantitative analysis of agrochemical residues in tobacco.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.61-65
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• 2019

Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer) is a traditional herb used across the world to treat various diseases. Although, red ginseng is this herb's most famous product and has demonstrated diverse pharmacological activities, white ginseng (WG) is another ginseng product that is made fresh and individually regulated in Eastern Asia. Red and white ginseng show different characteristics due to distinct processing steps despite originating from the same plant, and the drug interactions induced by WG have not been well documented. Selegiline is a selective monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitor used as an antidyskinetic and antiparkinsonian agent. Here we developed a quantification method for selegiline in mouse plasma using a C8 stationary phase in triple quadrupole-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) with multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). The validated LC-MS/MS method was successfully applied to determine the potential interaction with WG extract (0.1 g/kg/day) pre-administered for 4 weeks. The $AUC_{0-240min}$ of selegiline was altered due to a decrease in the absorption of selegiline with repeated administration of WG extract.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.95-99
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• 2018

An innovative, simple, and rapid assay method based on liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of eight statin drugs in human urine. A simple sample clean-up procedure using the "dilute and shoot" (DAS) approach enabled a fast and reliable analysis. The influence of the dilution factor was investigated to ensure detectability and reduce the matrix effect. Chromatographic separation was performed on a Phenomenex Kinetex C18 column ($50{\times}3.0mm$ i.d., $2.6{\mu}m$) using an elution gradient of mobile phase A composed of 0.1% acetic acid, and mobile phase B composed of acetonitrile, at a flow rate of 0.35 mL/min. Quantitation was performed on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer operated in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode using electrospray ionization in positive ion mode. The total chromatographic run time was 15 min. The method was validated for selectivity, sensitivity, recovery, linearity, accuracy, precision, and stability. The present method was successfully applied to the analysis of Rosuvastatin in urine samples after oral administration to healthy human subjects.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.35-40
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• 2022

Human tissues and organs can be preserved intact by fixation with formalin for the future analysis of biomolecules of interest. With the advances in high-throughput methods, numerous protocols have been developed and optimized to attain the most pathophysiological information out of biomolecules, including RNA and proteins, in formalin-fixed samples. However, there is no systematic study to examine the effects of formalin fixation on the lipidome of biological samples in a global fashion. In this study, we conducted a mass spectrometry-based analysis to survey the alteration in the lipidome of mice brains by fixation methods. A total of 308 lipids were quantitatively measured using triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. We found that most were unchanged after formalin fixation except for a few lipid classes such as phosphatidylethanolamine.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.40 no.8
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• pp.557-564
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• 1996

FAB CAD MS/MS(Fast Atom Bombardment Collision Activated Dissociation Mass Spectrometry/Mass Spectrometry) was used to study different degree of bond stability according to the linkage positions of alkali cationized $(Na^+, Li^+, K^+, NH_4^+)$ stereoisomeric and synthetic oligosaccharides. The alkali metal cations were much more stable, requiring over -40 eV of collision energy vs. only -10 eV for the protonated forms. Of the cations, the potassium cationized trisaccharides were more stable than the others. They would not yield fragment ions under the conditions of collision available in triple quadrupole. Other cationized species exhibited decreasing stability in the series $Nap^+>Li^+>NH_4^+$ using 0.8 mTorr argon pressure in the collision cell. Metal cations of the oligosaccharides maintained charge principally on the amino sugar as shown by shift of all the fragment ions containing the amino sugar. The reason for the higher stability of the metal cationized form is the formation of crown ether-like bond around metal cations, N-acetyl group on GlcNAc and oxygens on fucose moiety. Depending on the metal sizes and the conformation of linkage-isomeric region, cationized species gave linkage dependent fragment patterns and exhibited stability in the series 1-6 > 1-4 > 1-3 linkage.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.288.3-289
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• 2003

Sphingolipid species are important second messengers due to their role in the mitogenesis, differentiation and apoptosis. We developed a new column liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) in combination with multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) method for the rapid, simultaneous and quantitative determination of unambiguous detecting sphingolipids in cell culture of human cancer cells (HL-60). (omitted)