Colorimetric and fluorometric determination of uric acid by a suspension-based assay using enzyme-immobilized micro-sized particles.

Daily monitoring of serum uric acid levels is very important to provide appropriate treatment according to the constitution and lifestyle of individual hyperuricemic patients. We have developed a suspension-based assay to measure uric acid by adding a sample solution to the suspension containing micro-sized particles immobilized on uricase and horseradish peroxidase (HRP). In the proposed method, the mediator reaction of uricase, HRP, and uric acid produces resorufin from Amplex red. This resorufin is adsorbed onto enzyme-immobilized micro-sized particles simultaneously with its production, resulting in the red color of the micro-sized particles. The concentration of resorufin on the small surface area of the microscopic particles achieves a colorimetric analysis of uric acid with superior visibility. In addition, ethanol-induced desorption of resorufin allowed quantitative measurement of uric acid using a 96-well fluorescent microplate reader. The limit of detection (3σ) and RSD (n = 3) were estimated to be 2.2 × 10-2 µg/mL and ≤ 12.1%, respectively. This approach could also be applied to a portable fluorometer.

Elution behavior of drugs in high-speed counter-current chromatography using on-column complexation with metal ions.

In this study, determination of (nitrogen containing) drugs by on-column complexation with metal ions in high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) was investigated. Bromazepam (BMP) was strongly retained in the organic upper stationary phase (UP) of the two-phase solvent system composed of tert-butyl methyl ether-acetonitrile-water (2:2:3, v/v/v) by eluting the aqueous lower mobile phase (LP) at a flow rate of 2 mL min-1. On the other hand, BMP (200 µg mL-1) was eluted faster without retention to the organic UP with the two-phase system containing 100 µg mL-1 of copper ions (CuCl2) because a very polar BMP-Cu2+ complex was immediately formed in the aqueous LP. The dramatic change in the retention behavior of BMP resulted from on-column complexation. The on-column complexation in HSCCC was further investigated for five (nitrogen containing) drugs and seven metal ions. In the result, tizanidine and phentolamine formed complexes with Al3+, Fe2+, Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, and Zn2+, ambroxol formed complexes with Al3+, Fe2+, and Cu2+, but voriconazole formed no complexes with all metal ions tested.

Evaluation of the clinical and quantitative performance of a practical HPLC-UV platform for in-hospital routine therapeutic drug monitoring of multiple drugs.

BACKGROUND: In-hospital therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) requires a suitable quantification method for target drugs from the viewpoint of precision, throughput, and testing costs. We previously developed a practical HPLC-UV platform for quantification of serum levels of various drugs. In this report, the platform was effectively applied to the quantification of patient serum levels of five different drugs by clinical professionals in our hospital during their daily work. METHODS: The residual sera of patients receiving carbamazepine (CBZ), phenytoin (PHT), lamotrigine (LTG), vancomycin (VCM), or voriconazole (VRCZ) were used in the present clinical study. The quantification method for each drug consisted of rapid solid-phase extraction (SPE) of each drug in the patient serum, followed by optimized HPLC-UV analysis of the drug in the SPE eluate. Furthermore, patient serum levels of PHT, CBZ, and VCM were also measured by ligand-binding assay using a cobas® analyzer in our hospital, and those of LTG and VRCZ were measured by HPLC-MS/MS at an outsourced provider. Passing-Bablok regression analysis and Bland-Altman analysis were employed to analyze the agreement of drug levels in patient sera, which was separately quantified using two different methods-our HPLC-UV platform and the cobas analyzer, or HPLC-UV and HPLC-MS/MS. RESULTS: All analytical conditions of the present method using our HPLC-UV platform were well optimized for each target drug quantification in the patient's serum, and the quantification method for each drug was fully validated for accuracy, precision and reproducibility. Furthermore, Passing-Bablok regression analysis and Bland-Altman analysis revealed that patient serum levels of PHT, CBZ, and VCM quantified by our HPLC-UV platform were closely correlated with those quantified by the cobas® analyzer, and the levels of LTG and VRCZ quantified by our HPLC-UV platform were also correlated with those quantified by HPLC-MS/MS. CONCLUSIONS: Our HPLC-UV platform can be performed without requiring special analytical techniques. This platform is expected to be used for the measurement of blood levels of multiple drugs for in-hospital routine TDM.

Development of a colorimetric assay for quantification of favipiravir in human serum using ferrihydrite.

We developed a colorimetric analytical method for favipiravir (FPV), a promising treatment for COVID-19. FPV forms yellow complexes with ferrihydrite (Fh) by a ligand substitution reaction with the iron (III) hydroxyl surface groups in Fh. Fh-coated microbeads were packed into a capillary tube with an inner diameter of 1 mm. FPV-spiked serum after pretreatment was drawn into the capillary packed with Fh-coated microbeads. The intensities of the yellow-color complexes on the microbeads were transformed into red-green-blue (RGB) pixels using Image-J software 1.8, and the difference between green and blue was used as the analytical signal. The signal increased with increasing FPV concentration. The proposed method showed good linearity (R2 = 0.9907) over a concentration range of 25-200 µg/mL. The RSD (n = 3) and the LOD (3σ) values were estimated to be 2.8-15.4% and 16.91 µg/mL, respectively. The proposed method enables us to quantify FPV rapidly and easily without the need for expensive equipment.

Development of a surface plasmon resonance sensor using an optical fiber prepared by electroless displacement gold plating and its application to immunoassay.

A simple and low-cost method of fabricating an optical fiber for a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor was proposed. The method is based on the electroless nickel plating and subsequent displacement gold plating of the core of the optical fiber. The thickness of the nickel and gold thin films deposited on the core of the optical fiber could be controlled by measuring the reflected light intensity from the tip of the optical fiber during the plating processes. The sensitivity and resolution of the SPR sensor with the fabricated optical fiber in the refractive index range from 1.333 to 1.348 were 1324.3 nm/RIU and 7.6 × 10-4 RIU, respectively. The developed SPR sensor was successfully used in the determination of immunoglobulin A (IgA) in human saliva. The IgA quantification results obtained by the SPR sensor were in excellent agreement with those obtained by conventional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using a 96-well microtiter plate.

Elevated blood favipiravir levels are inversely associated with ferritin levels and induce the elevation of uric acid levels in COVID-19 treatment: A retrospective single-center study.

INTRODUCTION: Measurement of blood Favipiravir (FPV) levels and accumulation of data in COVID-19 patients are critical for assessing FPV efficacy and safety. We performed a retrospective study based on measurements of blood levels of FPV and related factors in COVID-19 patients admitted to our hospital. Furthermore, we also investigated the association between blood FPV levels and uric acid level alterations before and after FPV administration. METHODS: We enrolled 27 COVID-19 patients who had received FPV treatment at Hokushin General Hospital from April 1 to December 31, 2020. Age, gender, COVID-19 severity, presence of comorbidities, and laboratory data for each subject were investigated to identify factors that correlate with blood FPV levels. Uric acid levels were measured before and after FPV administration and a difference between the levels (i.e., a change of uric acid level) was evaluated. RESULTS: When a significant univariate variable was input by the stepwise method and a combination of variables that maintained statistical superiority was searched, serum ferritin was the only factor that independently affected blood FPV level. Furthermore, in the high-FPV group (20 µg/mL or more), a significant increase in uric acid levels was observed after FPV administration. The increment value was significantly larger than that in the low-FPV group (less than 20 µg/mL). CONCLUSIONS: Ferritin level was an important independent factor inversely affecting blood FPV level. Furthermore, a high blood FPV level induced the elevation of uric acid levels in COVID-19 treatment.

Sequence-dependent nucleosome formation in trinucleotide repeats evaluated by in vivo chemical mapping.

Trinucleotide repeat sequences (TRSs), consisting of 10 unique classes of repeats in DNA, are members of microsatellites and abundantly and non-randomly distributed in many eukaryotic genomes. The lengths of TRSs are mutable, and the expansions of several TRSs are implicated in hereditary neurological diseases. However, the underlying causes of the biased distribution and the dynamic properties of TRSs in the genome remain elusive. Here, we examined the effects of TRSs on nucleosome formation in vivo by histone H4-S47C site-directed chemical cleavages, using well-defined yeast minichromosomes in which each of the ten TRS classes resided in the central region of a positioned nucleosome. We showed that (AAT)12 and (ACT)12 act as strong nucleosome-promoting sequences, while (AGG)12 and (CCG)12 act as nucleosome-excluding sequences in vivo. The local histone binding affinity scores support the idea that nucleosome formation in TRSs, except for (AGG)12, is mainly determined by the affinity for the histone octamers. Overall, our study presents a framework for understanding the nucleosome-forming abilities of TRSs.

Optimization of Analytical Procedure for In-hospital Rapid Quantification of Serum Level of Favipiravir in the Pharmacological Treatment of COVID-19.

An in-hospital rapid method for quantifying the serum level of favipiravir (FPV) in the pharmacological treatment of COVID-19 was developed by an appropriate combination of a solid-phase extraction treatment and a reversed-phase HPLC/UV detection system. The quantification method was well-validated and applied to measuring the serum FPV level in a clinical practice at a general hospital that accepts COVID-19 patients. Furthermore, an analysis of data from our preliminary interaction analysis revealed, for the first time, that FPV selectively forms complexes with ferric (Fe3+) and cupric (Cu2+) ions.

Quantification of CRP in human serum using a handheld fluorescence detection system for capillary-based ELISA.

We developed a handheld fluorescence detection system for capillary-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The detection system implements both a long-pass filter and perpendicular optical arrangement, i.e., a power LED and a palm-sized spectrometer, to minimize background signals from the excitation light and optical scattering. The lower detection limit for resorufin was 0.13 µM. The detection system was applied to the quantification of C-reactive protein (CRP) in human serum with a capillary-based ELISA. The lower detection limit for CRP was 31 ng/ml, and the observed CRP levels in human serum were comparable to those obtained with a conventional ELISA system.

Film-Thickness-Controllable System for Preparing Silver Nanofilms through Absorbance Monitoring of the Thickness during a Silver-Mirror Reaction.

An innovative technique is proposed for forming silver thin films of nanometer-order thickness via a silver-mirror reaction. This approach is made possible by the real-time monitoring of the thickness of a silver thin film formed on the edge surface of a fiber core during the silver-mirror reaction using a homemade absorbance measurement system. The monitored absorbance value increases as silver plating progresses, and the relationship between the absorbance values and the thickness of the silver thin film is linear in the thickness range from approximately 30 to 60 nm. This technique was applied to the preparation of a fiber-optic surface plasmon resonance (FO-SPR) sensor. The sensor was successfully used to measure sucrose solutions with concentrations of less than 16% (w/v). The sensitivity of the sensor probe was estimated to be 2205 nm/RIU in the refractive index range of 1.333 - 1.357. The relative standard deviation of the wavelength shift obtained from measurements using different sensor probes was estimated to be less than 3.3%.

A Fluorinated Carbanionic Substituent for Improving Water Solubility and Lipophilicity of Fluorescent Dyes.

Installation of a carbanionic substituent, that is strongly stabilized by two (trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl (Tf=SO2 CF3 ) groups, into several fluorescence dyes including boron-dipyrromethenes (BODIPYs), fluoresceins, and aminocoumarins has been achieved by the 2,2-bis(triflyl)ethylation reaction of the dye frameworks with highly electrophilic Tf2 C=CH2 , followed by neutralization with NaHCO3 . Despite the contradiction between water solubility and lipophilicity, the carbanion-decorated dyes thus obtained showed significant enhancement of not only water solubility but also lipophilicity. This work clearly demonstrates that the fluorinated, highly stabilized carbanionic substituent is a new option for controlling the macroscopic property of chemical materials.

Development of an on-chip sample injection system with a 6-port valve incorporated in a microchip.

Micro-flow-injection analysis (µFIA) is amenable to high-throughput systems with lower consumption of sample and reagent volumes. On-chip sample injection methods are important to prevent reduced analytical performance associated with dead volumes and diffusion of sample solutions. In this study, we have developed an on-chip sample injection system with a small-sized 6-port valve incorporated on a microchip. The valve is made with a 3D printer and is a simple structure that can be easily operated manually. A sample solution in a loading channel can be injected by switching the valve from the load to injection position. Sample injection tests using resorufin solutions revealed that samples can be injected below 100 µL min-1, and the performance of the sample injection system is comparable to that of a commercially available injector. In addition, the sample injection system was successfully applied to a flow-based assay for hydrogen peroxide. The detection limit (3σ) of hydrogen peroxide was estimated to be 0.5 µM, and the assay time after sample injection was approximately 100 s. The developed sample injection system will be useful for various microfluidic-based analyses including µFIA.

Analysis of Complexation Interactions between Metal Ions and Drugs under Pseudo-physiological pH Conditions by a High-throughput Screening Method Using a Solid-phase Extraction Cartridge.

A high-throughput screening method for the complexation between metal ions and drugs was established by combining solid-phase extraction (SPE) using a nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) modified silica spin cartridge with subsequent HPLC analysis. First, a test metal ion solution was passed through the NTA cartridge, then a test drug solution diluted in phosphate buffered saline (pH 7.4) was passed through the metal-chelated NTA cartridge. The complexation behavior between the metal and the drug on the NTA cartridge was evaluated by HPLC quantification of the drug in the SPE eluate. Comprehensive analysis of the complexation behavior between 11 different metal ions and 55 drugs showed that Cu2+, Ni2+, Co2+, Zn2+, Cr3+ and Fe3+ formed complexes with 12, 5, 4, 2, 1 and 1 kinds of drugs, respectively. Bromazepam selectively formed complexes with Cu2+, Ni2+ and Co2+.

Real-time assay for exosome membrane fusion with an artificial lipid membrane based on enhancement of gramicidin A channel conductance.

We report that the channel activities of gramicidin A in a supported lipid bilayer (SLB) were modulated by membrane fusion with exosomes. The mechanism of the modulation was an increase in the number of exosomes inserting into the SLB membrane, rather than enhancements of the single channel activity of gramicidin A. The modulation of apparent channel activities was applicable to the exosome fusion assay. This assay revealed that the membrane fusion of HEK-293 and MCF-7 exosomes was enhanced at pH 6.0, and the initial rates of membrane fusion for MCF-7 exosomes were higher than those for HEK-293 cells.

The Yeast Minichromosome System Consisting of Highly Positioned Nucleosomes in Vivo.

In eukaryotic genomes, the nucleosome is the structural and functional unit, and its position and dynamics are important for gene expression control and epigenetic regulation. Epigenetics is an important mechanism in development and homeostasis, and aberrant epigenetics is a common feature in cancer. Although understanding the mechanistic basis that determines nucleosome positioning in vivo is important for elucidating chromatin function and epigenetic regulation, a suitable experimental system to examine such mechanisms is still being developed. Herein, we examined nucleosome organization in yeast minichromosomes, using a parallel mapping method we previously developed that involve site-directed chemical cleavage and micrococcal nuclease digestion. This parallel mapping is capable of revealing the differences in the occupancy and the stability of individual nucleosomes in the minichromosome. Based on the previously characterized minichromosome, we engineered a set of new minichromosomes, aimed at strengthening the positioning of the nucleosomes. The site-directed chemical mapping method demonstrated that the nucleosome positioning in the newly designed yeast minichromosome system was significantly more stable. This system will be useful for elucidating the determinants of nucleosome organization, such as DNA sequences and/or nucleosome binding proteins, and for determining the relationships between nucleosome dynamics and epigenetic regulation, which are targets for therapeutic agents.

Parallel mapping with site-directed hydroxyl radicals and micrococcal nuclease reveals structural features of positioned nucleosomes in vivo.

Micrococcal nuclease (MNase) has been widely used for analyses of nucleosome locations in many organisms. However, due to its sequence preference, the interpretations of the positions and occupancies of nucleosomes using MNase have remained controversial. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has also been utilized for analyses of MNase-digests, but some technical biases are commonly present in the NGS experiments. Here, we established a gel-based method to map nucleosome positions in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, using isolated nuclei as the substrate for the histone H4 S47C-site-directed chemical cleavage in parallel with MNase digestion. The parallel mapping allowed us to compare the chemically and enzymatically cleaved sites by indirect end-labeling and primer extension mapping, and thus we could determine the nucleosome positions and the sizes of the nucleosome-free regions (or nucleosome-depleted regions) more accurately, as compared to nucleosome mapping by MNase alone. The analysis also revealed that the structural features of the nucleosomes flanked by the nucleosome-free region were different from those within regularly arrayed nucleosomes, showing that the structures and dynamics of individual nucleosomes strongly depend on their locations. Moreover, we demonstrated that the parallel mapping results were generally consistent with the previous genome-wide chemical mapping and MNase-Seq results. Thus, the gel-based parallel mapping will be useful for the analysis of a specific locus under various conditions.

Interaction between Various Apple Procyanidin and Staphylococcal Enterotoxin A and Their Inhibitory Effects on Toxin Activity.

In this study, we investigated the interaction between apple polyphenols (AP; mainly consisting of procyanidin (PC) from an apple) and staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA), and the inhibitory effects of AP on SEA activity. According to the degree of polymerization, in particularly highly polymerized PC (more than pentamer) strongly interacted with SEA. The binding affinity of AP with SEA molecules was determined using Biacore analysis. AP reacted with SEA immobilized on a Biacore sensor chip. After treatment with pepsin and pancreatin, to examine the changes of binding affinity of AP in intragastric conditions, AP maintained interaction with SEA. We examined whether AP inhibits the proliferation and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) production induced by SEA in mouse spleen cells. AP strongly inactivated the proliferation and IFN-γ production induced by SEA. These results suggest that AP, which has a higher degree of polymerization, inactivates stronger biological activity of SEA through interaction with SEA. Our studies are the first to demonstrate the relationship between the degree of polymerization of AP and the inhibitory effects on SEA activities.

Inhibitory assay for degradation of collagen IV by cathepsin B with a surface plasmon resonance sensor.

We describe a simple method for evaluating the inhibition of collagen IV degradation by cathepsin B with a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor. The change in the SPR signal decreased with an increase in the concentration of cathepsin B inhibitors. The order of the inhibitory constant (Ki) obtained by the SPR method was CA074Me≈Z-Phe-Phe-FMK < leupeptin. This order was different from that obtained by benzyloxycarbonyl-Phe-Phe-Fluoromethylketone (Z-Phe-Phe-FMK) as a peptide substrate. The comparison of Ki suggested that CA074 and Z-Phe-Phe-FMK inhibited exopeptidase activity, and leupeptin inhibited the endopeptidase activity of cathepsin B more strongly.

Monitoring of cholesterol oxidation in a lipid bilayer membrane using streptolysin O as a sensing and signal transduction element.

Streptolysin O (SLO), which recognizes sterols and forms nanopores in lipid membranes, is proposed as a sensing element for monitoring cholesterol oxidation in a lipid bilayer. The structural requirements of eight sterols for forming nanopores by SLO confirmed that a free 3-OH group in the ß-configuration of sterols is required for recognition by SLO in a lipid bilayer. The extent of nanopore formation by SLO in lipid bilayers increased in the order of cholestanol

High-throughput determination of octanol/water partition coefficients using a shake-flask method and novel two-phase solvent system.

A high-throughput method for determining the octanol/water partition coefficient (P(o/w)) of a large variety of compounds exhibiting a wide range in hydrophobicity was established. The method combines a simple shake-flask method with a novel two-phase solvent system comprising an acetonitrile-phosphate buffer (0.1 M, pH 7.4)-1-octanol (25:25:4, v/v/v; AN system). The AN system partition coefficients (K(AN)) of 51 standard compounds for which log P(o/w) (at pH 7.4; log D) values had been reported were determined by single two-phase partitioning in test tubes, followed by measurement of the solute concentration in both phases using an automatic flow injection-ultraviolet detection system. The log K(AN) values were closely related to reported log D values, and the relationship could be expressed by the following linear regression equation: log D=2.8630 log K(AN) -0.1497(n=51). The relationship reveals that log D values (+8 to -8) for a large variety of highly hydrophobic and/or hydrophilic compounds can be estimated indirectly from the narrow range of log K(AN) values (+3 to -3) determined using the present method. Furthermore, log K(AN) values for highly polar compounds for which no log D values have been reported, such as amino acids, peptides, proteins, nucleosides, and nucleotides, can be estimated using the present method. The wide-ranging log D values (+5.9 to -7.5) of these molecules were estimated for the first time from their log K(AN) values and the above regression equation.