Evaluation of inhibitors of intestinal UDP-glucuronosyltransferases 1A8 and 1A10 using raloxifene as a substrate in Caco-2 cells: Studies with four flavonoids of Scutellaria baicalensis.

UDP glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) of the gastrointestinal tract play a crucial role in protection against the toxic effects of xenobiotics in the environment. UGTs such as UGT1A8 and UGT1A10 are predominantly expressed in gastrointestinal tissues. In this study, we examined the phase II metabolism of raloxifene in differentiated Caco-2 monolayers by inducing UGT1A8 and UGT1A10 expression in these cells. The present study evaluated the following four flavonoids of Scutellaria baicalensis as model herbal compounds: scutellarein, salvigenin, baicalein, and wogonin. All test compounds, endpoint substrates, and their metabolites were quantified using liquid chromatography and high-resolution mass spectrometry. The transepithelial electrical resistance values for the individual compounds were comparable regardless of whether they were measured individually. Salvigenin significantly inhibited UGT1A8 and UGT1A10 activities in a concentration-dependent manner. All individual compounds except scutellarein inhibited UGT1A8 and UGT1A10 activity at a concentration of 100 µM. In addition, all individual flavonoids at 100 µM, except wogonin, significantly increased the amount of raloxifene in the basolateral chambers. The positive control, canagliflozin, significantly inhibited both UGT1A8 and UGT1A10 activities. These findings suggest that the Caco-2 assay can be utilized for identifying UGT1A8 and UGT1A10 inhibitors and indicate the potential of salvigenin for enhancing the pharmacological effects of UGT substrate drugs.

Single-Shot Quantitative Polarization Imaging of Complex Birefringent Structure Dynamics.

Polarization light microscopes are powerful tools for probing molecular order and orientation in birefringent materials. While a number of polarization microscopy techniques are available to access steady-state properties of birefringent samples, quantitative measurements of the molecular orientation dynamics on the millisecond time scale have remained a challenge. We propose polarized shearing interference microscopy (PSIM), a single-shot quantitative polarization imaging method, for extracting the retardance and orientation angle of the laser beam transmitting through optically anisotropic specimens with complex structures. The measurement accuracy and imaging performance of PSIM are validated by imaging a birefringent resolution target and a bovine tendon specimen. We demonstrate that PSIM can quantify the dynamics of a flowing lyotropic chromonic liquid crystal in a microfluidic channel at an imaging speed of 506 frames per second (only limited by the camera frame rate), with a field-of-view of up to 350 × 350 µm2 and a diffraction-limit spatial resolution of ~2 µm. We envision that PSIM will find a broad range of applications in quantitative material characterization under dynamical conditions.

Development of a novel bead-based 96-well filtration plate competitive immunoassay for the detection of Gentamycin.

We developed a sensitive, simple, inexpensive and rapid bead-based immunoassay platform, composed of liposomal nanovesicle amplification system, Gentamycin sulfate beads and 96-well filtration plates. In the beginning of the assay, Gentamycin sulfate beads, Gentamycin sulfate and Gentamycin specific antibody were incubated in a bottom-sealed 96-well filtration plate. After incubation, washing was done by running washing buffer through the unsealed filtration plate with only gravity and the antibody-Gentamycin bead complexes were retained in the plate. Fluorescent dye-loaded protein G-liposomal nanovesicles were then added to specifically bind to antibodies on the retained beads. After washing unbound nanovesicles, millions of fluorescent dye molecules were released by adding a detergent solution to lyse liposomal nanovesicles. The limit of detection (LOD) of this novel detection platform in TBS and in skim milk were 52.65 ng/mL and 14.16 ng/mL, which are both sufficient for detecting the 200 ng/mL Codex maximum residual level (MRL). The dynamic ranges were both from each of their LODs to 100 µg/mL. The 50% inhibition concentrations (IC50) in TBS and skim milk were 199.66 ng/mL and 360.81 ng/mL, respectively. We also demonstrated the good specificity of this platform by comparing detection results between pure Gentamycin solution and a mixture solution of 6 different antibiotics including Gentamycin in skim milk. The entire assay with 60 samples was conducted within 2h. In sum, this novel biosensing platform not only fulfilled most benefits of magnetic bead-based assays, but also was inexpensive and convenient by replacing the magnetic separation with filtration plate separation.

A sulfhydryl-reactive ruthenium (II) complex and its conjugation to protein G as a universal reagent for fluorescent immunoassays.

To develop a fluorescent ruthenium complex for biosensing, we synthesized a novel sulfhydryl-reactive compound, 4-bromophenanthroline bis-2,2'-dipyridine Ruthenium bis (hexafluorophosphate). The synthesized Ru(II) complex was crosslinked with thiol-modified protein G to form a universal reagent for fluorescent immunoassays. The resulting Ru(II)-protein G conjugates were identified by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The emission peak wavelength of the Ru(II)-protein G conjugate was 602 nm at the excitation of 452 nm which is similar to the spectra of the Ru(II) complex, indicating that Ru(II)-protein G conjugates still remain the same fluorescence after conjugation. To test the usefulness of the conjugate for biosensing, immunoglobulin G (IgG) binding assay was conducted. The result showed that Ru(II)-protein G conjugates were capable of binding IgG and the more cross-linkers to modify protein G, the higher conjugation efficiency. To demonstrate the feasibility of Ru(II)-protein G conjugates for fluorescent immunoassays, the detection of recombinant histidine-tagged protein using the conjugates and anti-histidine antibody was developed. The results showed that the histidine-tagged protein was successfully detected with dose-response, indicating that Ru(II)-protein G conjugate is a useful universal fluorescent reagent for quantitative immunoassays.