Analyses of adenosine and adenine nucleotides in biological materials by fluorescence reaction-high-performance liquid chromatography

Determination of ATP and its metabolites released from rat caudal artery by isocratic ion-pair reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography

A sensitive and selective assay method for adenine compounds (purines) using high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescent detection was developed. The 1,N6-ethenoderivatives of adenine, adenosine, AMP, ADP, and ATP formed by reaction with chloroacetaldehyde at 80 degreesC were separated by ion-pair reversed-phase chromatography within 15 min under isocratic conditions. alpha,beta-Methylene adenosine 5'-diphosphate could be used as an internal standard for the determination of purines. The calibration graphs constructed with peak area ratios against amounts were linear between 0.1 and 10.0 pmol of each purine. The repeatability and intermediate precision were less than 6% (RSD, n = 5) and 8% (RSD, n = 3), respectively, at 0.5 pmol of each purine. A method for calculation of each purine amount which considers hydrolysis by derivatization is described. The optimized method was applied to determine the purines released from the rat caudal artery stimulated by noradrenaline.

Development of guanine analyzer to measure activity of guanylate cyclase

A previous analyzer of adenine compounds by high-performance liquid chromatography was converted for the determination of guanine, its nucleoside and nucleotides by a post-column fluorescence derivatization with phenylglyoxal (PGO) in place of bromoacetoaldehyde. The gel filtration column (Asahipak GS-320H) was used for separation by a mobile phase consisting of 25 mM sodium citrate buffered (pH 4.0)-150 mM NaCl solution and CH3CN (85:15, v/v) containing 15 mM PGO. The separated analytes reacted with flow through PGO in a reaction coil at 90 degrees C into fluorescent derivatives. Those derivatives were detected fluorimetrically, highly selective and quantitatively. The activity of soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) in the neuroblastoma N1E-115 cell was measured by tracing the peak height of cGMP synthesized from substrate GTP using this guanine analyzer. The sensitivity of the present method was lower than the radioisotope method. However, our modified method was simpler, safer and quicker than the radioisotope method. Furthermore, this method could trace other guanine compounds simultaneously, allowing measurement of guanine metabolizing enzymatic activity. Therefore, it will be useful for screening of effectors on sGC.

Determination of adenine nucleotides by fluorescence detection using high-performance liquid chromatography and post-column derivatisation with chloroacetaldehyde

A novel rapid method for the analysis of adenine nucleotides in cells and tissues using post-column derivatisation with chloroacetaldehyde (CAA) followed by fluorescence detection is described. The CAA is incorporated in the eluent, but only reacts post-column when the temperature is elevated to 100 degrees C. Samples are chromatographed following neutralisation of acid extracts. Examples are given using both trichloroacetic acid extraction for cells in culture, and perchloric acid for murine liver.

Selective adhesion of platelets on a polyion complex composed of phospholipid polymers containing sulfonate groups and quarternary ammonium groups

We investigated the effects of electrical charges on cell-polymer interactions of poly[2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine(MPC)-co-n-butyl methacrylate (BMA)] (PMB) having excellent blood compatibility, by copolymerizing anionic or cationic methacrylates with MPC and BMA. A polyion complex (PIC) composed of anionic and cationic MPC copolymers was also prepared. When the cell adhesion on these polymer surfaces from rabbit whole blood was evaluated, we observed a considerable reduction in cell adhesion on the MPC copolymers compared with that on poly(BMA), even when the MPC copolymer was electrically charged. On the other hand, many platelets selectively adhered to the PIC surface from whole blood, but the adherent platelets maintained a discoid shape. The amount of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in platelets adherent on the PMB or the PIC from a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) was more than 75% of that in the original PRP, which indicated that the activity of these platelets remained high. However, in the platelets adherent to poly(BMA), only a small amount of ATP remained. Protein adsorption on the polymer surface from human plasma was investigated using a gold-colloid-labeled immunoassay against albumin gamma-globulin, and fibrinogen. Many of these proteins adsorbed on poly(BMA), whereas a small amount of protein was observed on the MPC copolymers that had an electrical charge. Albumin adsorption and suppression of gamma-globulin and fibrinogen adsorption were found on the PIC. Therefore, the introduction of electrical charges in the PMB did not have an adverse effect on cell adhesion and protein adsorption.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Fluorogenic reactions for biomedical chromatography

A number of fluorogenic reactions, which have been used for HPLC detection systems by means of pre- and/or postcolumn derivatization, are surveyed with respect to both sensitivity and selectivity for the determination of biomedically important substances. For the derivatization of the substances, two types of fluorogenic reactions, fluorescence-generating and fluorescence-tagging, have been studied. The former are usable in most instances for both pre- and postcolumn derivatization methods, and the latter only for precolumn derivatization methods. HPLC methods utilizing the fluorogenic reactions allow analytes to be detected at picomole-subfemtomole levels. In the fluorescence-generating reactions, several fluorogenic reagents possessing two or more reactive sites in the molecule, which show molecular recognition for a variety of analytes, permit facile and reproducible detection in HPLC because there are fewer interferences from biological matrices.

Plasma adenosine concentrations are elevated in conscious spontaneously hypertensive rats

1. Plasma levels of adenosine were measured in unrestrained, conscious spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) to examine the potential role of adenosine, a naturally occurring substance with profound cardiovascular actions, in cardiovascular regulation in these genetically hypertensive rats. 2. We employed a specific and sensitive assay for adenosine based on fluorescent determination of adenine compounds by high performance liquid chromatography. 3. Plasma adenosine concentrations were significantly higher in 13 week old SHR with hypertension than in Wistar-Kyoto rats (0.165 +/- 0.022 vs 0.096 +/- 0.008 mumol/L; P less than 0.05). 4. These observations indicate that plasma adenosine levels are increased in conscious SHR with established hypertension, and also suggest that adenosine may be at least partly involved in the pathophysiology of high blood pressure in SHR.

Direct injection of blood samples into a high-performance liquid chromatographic adenine analyser to measure adenine, adenosine, and the adenine nucleotides with fluorescence detection

Adenine (Ade), adenosine (Ado) and its nucleotides such as AMP, cAMP, ADP and ATP in blood or plasma were determined by a high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) adenine analyser with fluorescence detection. In order to inject samples directly into the HPLC system without pretreatment except dilution, the analyser consisted of two systems each, having three columns (pre-, mini- and analytical). A precolumn with an inlet filter of pore size 40 microns was common to both systems and packed with Butyl-Toyopearl 650-M to remove hydrophobic compounds and blood cell membranes. In the system for analysis of the nucleotides, a mini-column of Hitachi anion-exchange gel 3013-N was used for adsorbing AMP, cAMP, ADP and ATP. The adsorbed nucleotides were separated by the Hitachi gel 3013-N analytical column. In the other system for analysis of Ado and Ade, they were adsorbed on a Develosil ODS-5 mini-column and separated by an Asahipak GS-320H size-exclusion analytical column. The adenine compounds in each eluate were derivatized on-line in a 15-m reaction coil at 115 degrees C with bromoacetaldehyde as the fluorescent reagent in each mobile phase for the analytical column, and detected by spectrofluorimetry. ATP, ADP and AMP were accurately determined by the direct injection of hamster, rat and human whole blood. Authentic Ade and Ado were well separated and Ado in human plasma was determined, but it was difficult to determine it in rat plasma owing to interference from an unknown compound.

Measurement of adenine nucleotide levels with an adenine analyser as an index of freshness of porgy

In a prototype of an adenine analyser, adenosine and adenine nucleotides were derivatized with a fluorescent reagent, bromoacetaldehyde, after separation on a Hitachi gel No. 3012-N column by high-performance liquid chromatography. The previous analyser was improved by using a shorter reaction coil and by introduction of a Hitachi gel No. 3013-N with 5-microns particles of porous polystyrene-divinylbenzene, and applied to estimate the freshness of porgy. Total amounts of ATP, ADP and AMP in an isolated muscle just after death gradually decreased to 60% of the original amount after 5 h, and the ATP content rapidly decreased to 20% after 1 h. A good correlation was found between the levels of total adenine compounds and the energy charge values obtained from nineteen porgies frozen at a prerigour state. On the other hand, there existed no relationship between total adenine levels and the K values, which were indices for estimating freshness of fish. The analyser will be useful to evaluate the freshness of tissues and cells based on the higher contents of total adenine compounds, especially ATP.

Dissociation of digoxin-like immunoreactivity and Na+,K+-ATPase inhibitory activity in rat plasma

We measured endogenous digitalis-like factor (EDF) in rat plasma during acute saline infusion by two different procedures. Na+,K+-ATPase inhibitory activity in the rat plasma significantly increased during saline loading (7.8 +/- 2.2 vs 2.5 +/- 0.9%, with and without acute saline loading, respectively, p less than 0.05). On the other hand, the plasma digoxin-like immunoreactivity significantly decreased during acute saline loading (16.9 +/- 1.6 vs 32.0 +/- 2.8 pg digoxin equivalents/ml, with and without acute saline loading, respectively, p less than 0.01). These results indicate that the major substances detected by digoxin-like immunoreactivity and direct Na+,K+-ATPase inhibitory activity are completely different, at least in rat plasma.