Disposable FFP2 and Type IIR Medical-Grade Face Masks: An Exhaustive Analysis into the Leaching of Micro- and Nanoparticles and Chemical Pollutants Linked to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the worldwide production and use of disposable plastic face masks (DPFMs). The release of micro- and nanopollutants into the environment is one of the impacts derived from regulated and unregulated disposal of DPFMs. This study focuses on the emission of pollutants from medical-grade DPFMs when submerged in deionized water, simulating regulated and unregulated disposal of these masks. Three brands of FFP2 and three brands of Type IIR medical masks, produced in various countries (UK, EU, and non-EU), were investigated. Field emission gun scanning electron microscopy (FEG-SEM) was used to obtain high-resolution images of the micro- and nanoparticles, and 0.02 µm pore size inorganic membranes were used to retain and subsequently analyze smaller particle size nanoparticles (>20 nm) released from the DPFMs. Particles and fibers in the micro- and nanoscale were found in all six DPFM brands. SEM with energy-dispersive spectroscopy analysis revealed the presence of particles containing different heavy metals like lead, mercury, and arsenic. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry analysis confirmed the leaching of trace heavy metals to water (antimony up to 2.41 µg/L and copper up to 4.68 µg/L). Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis identified polar organic species related to plastic additives and contaminants such as polyamide-66 monomers and oligomers.

A family of novel, acidic N-glycans in Bowes melanoma tissue plasminogen activator have L2/HNK-1-bearing antennae, many with sulfation of the fucosylated chitobiose core.

A family of about 20 novel acidic bi- and tri-antennary N-glycans, amounting to almost half those expressed on Bowes melanoma tissue-plasminogen activator (t-PA) were found to possess Galbeta1-->4GlcNAcbeta1-->, sulfated and sialylated GalNAcbeta1-->4GlcNAcbeta1--> or sulfated GlcAbeta1--> 3Galbeta1-->4GlcNAcbeta1--> antennae, of which those containing sulfated GlcA, depicting the L2/HNK-1 carbohydrate epitope, were preferentially located on the 6 arm. A proportion of the glycans were highly charged, because of multiple and variously distributed sulfation, some of which was located on the fucosylated chitobiose core. Multiple expression of the L2/HNK-1 epitope on a single glycan was observed. The most abundant compound was a biantennary glycan carrying sulfated GlcA on the 6-branched antenna and an alpha2-->6 sialylated GalNAc on the other. The N-glycosylation sequon containing Asn448, which is known to express all of the sulfate-carrying N-glycans contains, unusually, an arginine residue. An electrostatic interaction between this cationic amino acid and the core-sulfate group of the N-glycan is proposed to reduce mobility of the carbohydrate in the region of the t-PA active site. Because of the 'brain-type' nature of the N-glycans described in this neuro-ectodermal cell line, the possibility of neural t-PA interacting with the L2/HNK-1-recognizing molecule, laminin, of the central nervous system extracellular matrix is discussed.

CD31 (PECAM-1) exists as a dimer and is heavily N-glycosylated.

CD31 (PECAM-1) is a highly abundant cell surface glycoprotein expressed on hemopoietic and endothelial cells where it functions as a homophilic adhesion and signaling receptor. Since dimerization and appropriate glycosylation are important features in the regulation of cell surface interactions and signal transduction, we studied the pattern of glycosylation as well as the ability of CD31 to undergo dimerization, both in solution and when expressed on cell membranes. CD31 is heavily glycosylated, with an approximate carbohydrate content of 21%. Nineteen neutral and thirteen sialylated glycans were identified. Ultracentrifugation analysis showed that soluble recombinant CD31 exists in equilibrium between a monomer and a dimer with an approximate dissociation constant of 12.5 microM. Chemical cross-linking studies of both soluble and membrane-expressed CD31 confirmed that CD31 exists as a dimer. These studies suggest that, like E-cadherin, PECAM-dimerization is likely to play a role in CD31 adhesion and signaling.

Electrospray ionization mass spectrometric analysis of intact cytochrome P450: identification of tienilic acid adducts to P450 2C9.

A general scheme for the purification of baculovirus-expressed cytochrome P450s (P450s) from the crude insect cell pastes has been designed which renders the P450s suitable for analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). An HPLC/ESI-MS procedure has been developed to analyze small amounts of intact purified P450 (P450s cam-HT, 1A1, 1A2, 2A6, 2B1, 2C9, 2C9 C175R, 3A4, 3A4-HT) and rat NADPH cytochrome P450 reductase (P450 reductase). The experimentally determined and predicted (based on the amino acid sequences) molecular masses (MMs) of the various proteins had identical rank orders. For each individual protein, the difference between the experimentally determined (+/-SD, based on experiments performed on at least 3 different days) and predicted MMs ranged from 0.002 to 0.035%. Each experimentally determined MM had a standard deviation of less than 0.09% (based on the charge state distribution). Application of this HPLC/ESI-MS technique made the detection of the covalent modification to P450 2C9 following mechanism-based inactivation by tienilic acid possible. In the absence of glutathione, three P450 2C9 species were detected that produced ESI mass spectra corresponding to native P450 2C9 and both a monoadduct and a diadduct of tienilic acid to P450 2C9. In the presence of glutathione, only native P450 2C9 and the monoadduct were detected. Based on the observed mass shifts for the P450 2C9/tienilic acid adducts, a mechanism for the inactivation of P450 2C9 by tienilic acid is proposed.

Structural determination of N-linked carbohydrates by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-mass spectrometry following enzymatic release within sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide electrophoresis gels: application to species-specific glycosylation of alpha1-acid glycoprotein.

This paper describes a sensitive method for analysis of N-linked carbohydrates released enzymatically from within the gel following separation of glycoproteins (50-100 pmols) by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The separated bands containing the glycoproteins were cut from the gel, destained, reduced and alkylated. N-linked glycans were then released by in-gel incubation with peptide N-glycosidase-F (PNGase-F) and extracted with water and acetonitrile. Sialic acid-containing glycans were converted into methyl esters by reaction with methyl iodide, salts and reagents were removed by passage through a mixed-bed column of ion-exchange resins and the glycans were examined by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI)-mass spectrometry. Structural determination of the released glycans was performed by exoglycosidase digestion. Following glycan release and extraction, the protein could be digested within the gel with trypsin, and the masses of the tryptic peptides could be compared with those generated from a sequence database for protein identification. The method is applied to the analysis of N-linked glycans from alpha1-acid glycoprotein from man, cow, sheep and dog. Major species-specific differences in glycosylation were found. Thus, although all four species used N-acetyl-neuraminic acid, only cow and sheep additionally used N-glycolyl-neuraminic acid. Biantennary glycans were the predominant carbohydrates in cow, sheep and dog but man produced more triantennary glycans and a substantial amount of tetraantennary sugars. Fucosylation was only found in glycans from man and cow and both cow and sheep glycans were found to have beta1-3- and well as beta1-4-linked galactose residues in the antennae.

Characterization of a urinary bufodienolide Na+,K+-ATPase inhibitor in patients after acute myocardial infarction.

Recent evidence suggests the existence of several endogenous Na+,K+-ATPase inhibitors in mammals. Previously, we have shown that the amphibian Na+,K+-ATPase inhibitor marinobufagenin (3,5-dihydroxy-14,15-epoxy bufodienolide) acts as a vasoconstrictor in isolated rat and human arteries. Mammalian plasma was shown to contain marinobufagenin-like immunoreactive material, which is responsive to saline volume expansion. The present study describes purification of a bufodienolide, which is similar to marinobufagenin, from the urine of patients after acute myocardial infarction with the use of thin-layer chromatography and reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The purified substance cross-reacted with marinobufagenin antibody, demonstrated maximal UV absorbance at 300 nm characteristic of bufodienolides, and eluted from HPLC columns with the same retention time as marinobufagenin. Mass spectrometry of purified material revealed the presence of a substance indistinguishable from amphibian marinobufagenin and having molecular mass of 400 D. The present studies show that one of the human digitalis-like factors may have a bufodienolide structure and is likely to represent marinobufagenin or its isomer, and they suggest a role for this substance in the pathogenesis of myocardial ischemia.

Identification of highly fucosylated N-linked oligosaccharides from the human parotid gland.

The glycosylation of a number of constituents of human saliva is known to modify its biological roles, such as its lubricating properties and binding of microbial flora. Gillece-Castro et al. [Gillece-Castro, B. L., Prakobphol, A., Burlingame, A. L., Leffler, H. & Fisher, S. J. (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 17358-17368] have proposed that the major glycan on the salivary proline-rich glycoproteins is a trifucosylated biantennary sugar with one difucosylated and one unfucosylated antenna. Furthermore, they proposed that the non-fucosylated antenna mediated adherence to a peridontal pathogen, Fusobacterium nucleatum. The detailed structures and roles of other highly fucosylated glycans that co-exist in the parotid gland are not fully known. In view of the influence of outer-arm fucosylation on carbohydrate recognition processes in general, this paper reports the use of a combination of HPLC (normal and reversed phase), matrix-assisted laser-desorption/ionisation (MALDI) mass spectrometry and exoglycosidase digestions to dissect the detailed structures of the most abundant of these polyfucosylated glycans. For measurement of reversed-phase HPLC retention times, new calibration units were used which paralleled the glucose units used for normal-phase HPLC. These differed in that the difference in retention times were compared with those derived from a ladder of 2-aminobenzamide-labelled arabinose oligomers instead of the corresponding oligomers from partially hydrolysed dextran. Over sixty neutral sugars were identified from the parotid gland and many of these were additionally found substituted with sialic acid (both alpha2-3-linked and alpha2-6-linked) and sulphate. These glycans were mainly bi- and tri-antennary sugars with up to five and seven fucose residues respectively, containing fucose alpha1-3-linked to the outer-arm GlcNAc residues and alpha1-2-linked to the galactose. All fucosylated structures contained a core (alpha1-6-linked) fucose. The detailed structure of the trifucosylated biantennary glycan was confirmed, together with the structures of another 12 fucosylated biantennary glycans. Smaller amounts of hybrid and tetraantennary structures were also found and bisected glycans were shown to be constituents of parotid glycoproteins for the first time. Acidic glycans were mainly substituted with sialic acid. Most were monosialylated as the presence of fucose on the antennae was found to suppress the addition of extra sialic acid moieties. The possible functional significance of highly fucosylated N-glycans is discussed in relation to their modification of the availability of other non-reducing terminal monosaccharides for recognition processes.

Characterization of carbamazepine metabolism in a mouse model of carbamazepine teratogenicity.

The disposition of carbamazepine (CBZ) was investigated in the SWV mouse. A 14C-CBZ dose was administered to CBZ pretreated mice, and the distribution of radiolabeled material was determined. Twenty-four hours after the 14C-CBZ dose, 92.5% of the dose was accounted for in urine (56%), in the visera and carcass (22%), in feces (11%), and expired as 14CO2 (2%). CBZ metabolites present in hydrolyzed urine were also identified using a combination of spectroscopic techniques. CBZ, CBZ-10,11-epoxide (CBZE), 2- and 3-hydroxy-CBZ, methylsulfonyl-CBZ, and glucuronides of CBZ and CBZE accounted for 64% of total urinary radioactivity (0-24 hr) in CBZ pretreated mice. Minor metabolites of CBZ included novel cysteine and N-acetylcysteine conjugates of CBZ, as well as a methylsulfonyl conjugate of CBZE not previously reported. The urinary excretion of these thioether conjugates was increased in CBZ/phenobarbital pretreated mice and decreased in CBZ/stiripentol pretreated mice in comparison with CBZ-only treated mice. Preliminary studies of the effects of phenobarbital and stiripentol on the urinary abundance of these metabolites are consistent with the modulation of teratogenicity in the SWV mouse by the same pretreatments. These data suggest the formation of thioether metabolites of CBZ may be related to CBZ teratogenicity in the SWV mouse.

Sequencing of N-linked oligosaccharides directly from protein gels: in-gel deglycosylation followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry and normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography.

A generally applicable, rapid, and sensitive method for profiling and sequencing of glycoprotein-associated N-linked oligosaccharides from protein gels was developed. The method employed sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) for protein separation and purification and in-gel deglycosylation using PNGase F for glycan release. Profiles of the neutral glycans from bovine ribonuclease B, chicken ovalbumin, and human immunoglobulin G (IgG), as well as sialic acid-containing sugars (following esterification of the acidic groups) of bovine fetuin and bovine alpha1-acid glycoprotein, were obtained by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI MS) and by normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography following fluorescent labeling. Oligosaccharides were sequenced using specific exoglycosidases, and digestion products were analyzed by MALDI MS. Between 50 and 100 pmol (1.5 to 15 microg) of glycoprotein applied to the gel was sufficient to characterize its oligosaccharide contents. The identity of all glycoproteins investigated could be confirmed after deglycosylation by in-gel trypsin treatment followed by MALDI MS mass mapping and matching the measured molecular weights to a sequence database. The technique was used for the characterization of the glycan moieties of human immunodeficiency virus recombinant gp120 (Chinese hamster ovary cells) and to monitor changes in the glycosylation of this glycoprotein when produced in the presence of a glucosidase I inhibitor. Furthermore, since heavy and light chains of IgG became separated by SDS-PAGE, it could be established that most glycans were associated with the heavy chains.

Baculovirus-mediated expression and purification of human FMO3: catalytic, immunochemical, and structural characterization.

The baculovirus expression vector system was used to overexpress human FMO3 in insect cells for catalytic, structural, and immunochemical studies. Membranes prepared from infected Trichoplusia ni cell suspensions catalyzed NADPH-dependent metabolism of methyl p-tolyl sulfide at rates 20 times faster than those obtained with detergent-solubilized human liver microsomes. Sulfoxidation of the methyl and ethyl p-tolyl sulfides by recombinant human FMO3 proceeded with little stereochemical preference, whereas sulfoxidation of the n-propyl and n-butyl homologs demonstrated increasing selectivity for formation of the (R)-sulfoxide. This chiral fingerprint recapitulated the metabolite profile obtained when detergent-treated human liver microsomes served as the enzyme source. Catalytically active human FMO3 was purified to apparent homogeneity by cholate solubilization and sequential column chromatography on Octyl-Sepharose, DEAE-Sepharose, and hydroxyapatite. Purified FMO3 exhibited the same electrophoretic mobility as native microsomal enzyme, and immunoquantitation showed that this isoform represents approximately 0.5% of human liver microsomal protein. Therefore, FMO3 is quantitatively a major human liver monooxygenase. LC/electrospray-mass spectrometry analysis of purified FMO3 identified >70% of the tryptic peptides, including fragments containing motifs for N-linked glycosylation and O-linked glycosylation. Although insect cells have the capacity for glycan modification, MS analysis of the tryptic peptides demonstrated that these sites were not modified in the purified, recombinant enzyme. Edman degradation of the recombinant product revealed that posttranslational modification of human FMO3 by insect cells was limited to cleavage at the N-terminal methionine, a process seen in vivo with animal orthologs of FMO3. These studies demonstrate the suitability of this eukaryotic system for heterologous expression of human FMOs and future detailed analysis of their substrate specificities.

Control of activity through oxidative modification at the conserved residue Cys66 of aryl sulfotransferase IV.

Oxidation at Cys66 of rat liver aryl suflotransferase IV alters the enzyme's catalytic activity, pH optima and substrate specificity. Although this is a cytosolic detoxification enzyme, the pH optimum for the standard assay substrate 4-nitrophenol is at pH 5.5; upon oxidation, the optimum changes to the physiological pH range. The principal effect of the change in pH optimum is activation, which is manifest by an increase in K'cat without any major influence on substrate binding. In contrast, with tyrosine methyl ester as a substrate, the enzyme's optimum activity occurs at pH 8.0; upon oxidation, it ceases to be a substrate at any pH. The presence of Cys66 was essential for activation to occur, thereby providing a putative reason underlying the conserved nature of this cysteine throughout the phenol sulfotransferase family. Mapping of disulfides by mass spectrometry showed the critical event to be the oxidation of Cys66 to form a disulfide with either Cys232 or glutathione, either one is effective. These results point to a mechanism for regulating the activity of a key enzyme in xenobiotic detoxication during cellular oxidative stress.

Allelic variants of human cytochrome P450 2C9: baculovirus-mediated expression, purification, structural characterization, substrate stereoselectivity, and prochiral selectivity of the wild-type and I359L mutant forms.

The purpose of the present studies was to define the role of the I359L allelic variant of CYP2C9 in the metabolism of the low therapeutic index anticoagulant warfarin, by performing in vitro kinetic studies with the two enantiomers of the drug. To obtain sufficient quantities of these variants to perform kinetic studies at physiologically relevant substrate concentrations, methodology was established for the high-level expression, purification, and structural characterization of wild-type CYP2C9 and CYP2C9V1 using the baculovirus system. Both forms were expressed at levels up to 250 nmol/liter and purified in 50-55% yield to specific contents of 13-14 nmol holoenzyme/mg protein. The purified preparations were characterized by Edman degradation and electrospray-mass spectrometry. Both forms of the enzyme metabolized the pharmacologically more potent (S)-enantiomer of warfarin with the same regioselectivity; however, CYP2C9V1 exhibited a fivefold lower Vmax and a fivefold higher Km compared to the wild-type enzyme for this substrate. Neither form of the enzyme formed significant quantities of the (R)-warfarin phenols. Additional studies performed with prochiral arylalkyl sulfides provided confirmation of the low turnover rates catalyzed by CYP2C9V1 and demonstrated further that sulfoxide product stereochemistry did not differ significantly between the two variants. Therefore, decreased catalytic efficiency rather than a gross alteration in substrate orientation appears to be the consequence of this putative active-site mutation. The greatly decreased catalytic efficiency of the I359L variant suggests that leucine homozygotes would eliminate (S)-warfarin, and probably many other CYP2C9 substrates, at much slower rates in vivo than individuals expressing the wild-type enzyme.

Evaluation of glycosylation site heterogeneity and selective identification of glycopeptides in proteolytic digests of bovine alpha 1-acid glycoprotein by mass spectrometry.

Glycosylation sites in bovine alpha 1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) have been identified, and the inherent heterogeneity evaluated, by capillary electrophoretic and reversed-phase liquid chromatography/electrospray-mass spectrometric analyses of proteolytic digests of this glycoprotein. The success of these methods in locating glycopeptides relied on significant heterogeneity within each glycosylation site. In order to rapidly locate sites in glycoproteins of any degree of heterogeneity, a novel mass spectrometric method was applied to selectively identify the glycopeptides in a proteolytic digest of bovine alpha 1-AGP. The glycopeptides were selectively located by the generation and detection of characteristic oxonium ions from the carbohydrate moieties by collision-induced dissociation (CID) during liquid chromatography/electrospray-tandem mass spectrometry, and liquid chromatography/CID mass spectrometry, in which fragmentation was induced in the supersonic expansion region of the electrospray source.

Chromatographic and mass spectrometric methods for the identification of phosphorylation sites in phosphoproteins.

The phosphorylation sites in a model phosphoprotein, alpha s1-casein from bovine milk, have been identified by tryptic peptide mapping (Gibson and Cohen, Methods Enzymol. vol. 193, p. 480 (1990)) employing reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RPHPLC)/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ES-MS); by infusion tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and LC/MS/MS in neutral loss mode of tryptic digests of alpha s1-casein, in which the characteristic neutral loss of phosphoric acid by phosphopeptides under collision-induced dissociation (CID) conditions is exploited to highlight phosphopeptides in a tryptic digest (Covey et al., in Methods in Protein Sequence Analysis, Jörnvall et al. (Eds), Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 1991), and by a novel method, termed LC/CID-MS, in which phosphopeptides are located in mixtures of peptides by the generation and detection of phosphate-specific fragment ions during LC/ES-MS (Huddleston et al., J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. vol. 4, p. 710 (1993)). An appraisal of the efficiency, sensitivity and practicality of each of these methods in the identification of phosphorylation sites in post-translationally modified proteins is given.

Proton-transfer reactions of mass-selected multiply charged ions.

A triple-quadrupole spectrometer has been used to study proton-transfer reactions of multiply charged ions generated by electrospray ionization. Doubly and triply charged ions generated from the peptides Arg-Lys-Glu-Val-Tyr and Met-Lys-bradykinin, respectively, were found to undergo proton-transfer reactions with ammonia molecules contained in the RF-only quadrupole collision-gas cell of the spectrometer. With horse-heart myoglobin in the source, ions having charges of 20+, 19+, 16+ and 14+ were selected in turn by the first quadrupole and their proton-transfer reactions with ammonia investigated. For each ion, numerous product ions were detected having charges (n-1)+, (n-2)+, (n-3)+ ... where n was the charge on the reacting parent ion. The possibility of using the experimental technique to measure approximately the proton affinities of multiply charged ions is discussed. Also, a procedure is outlined for identifying the charge states of product ions resulting from collision-induced dissociation of multiply charged ions.