Improved Hepatoprotective Effect of Liposome-Encapsulated Astaxanthin in Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Acute Hepatotoxicity.

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute hepatotoxicity is significantly associated with oxidative stress. Astaxanthin (AST), a xanthophyll carotenoid, is well known for its potent antioxidant capacity. However, its drawbacks of poor aqueous solubility and low bioavailability have limited its utility. Liposome encapsulation is considered as an effective alternative use for the improvement of bioavailability of the hydrophobic compound. We hypothesized that AST encapsulated within liposomes (LA) apparently shows improved stability and transportability compared to that of free AST. To investigate whether LA administration can efficiently prevent the LPS-induced acute hepatotoxicity, male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = six per group) were orally administered liposome-encapsulated AST at 2, 5 or 10 mg/kg-day (LA-2, LA-5, and LA-10) for seven days and then were LPS-challenged (i.p., 5 mg/kg). The LA-10 administered group, but not the other groups, exhibited a significant amelioration of serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT), glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (CRE), hepatic malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), IL-6, and hepatic nuclear NF-κB and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), suggesting that LA at a 10 mg/kg-day dosage renders hepatoprotective effects. Moreover, the protective effects were even superior to that of positive control N-acetylcysteine (NAC, 200 mg/kg-day). Histopathologically, NAC, free AST, LA-2 and LA-5 partially, but LA-10 completely, alleviated the acute inflammatory status. These results indicate that hydrophobic AST after being properly encapsulated by liposomes improves bioavailability and can also function as potential drug delivery system in treating hepatotoxicity.

Mass accuracy improvement of reversed-phase liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry based urinary metabolomic analysis by post-run calibration using sodium formate cluster ions.

RATIONALE: Typically, a batch metabolomics analysis using liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-TOF MS) takes 2 to 3 days. However, the mass accuracy - which has an important influence on metabolite identification - can drift by as much as about 17 ppm in such a time period. In an untargeted urinary metabolomics analysis by reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC)/ESI-MS, the signals of sodium formate cluster ions were detected at the column-washing step. The cluster ions were used to calibrate the mass spectrometer for more accurate detection. METHODS: The spectra were calibrated post-run by the sodium formate cluster ions, which were used as the internal standard, in order to improve the mass accuracy. RESULTS: In the analysis of urine samples, we calibrated the spectra acquired by the micrOTOF with the sodium cluster ions. In positive mode ESI, the average errors of these cluster ions were improved to ±0.48 ppm and in negative mode ESI, to ±0.94 ppm after calibration. The mass accuracy remained within ±0.01 ppm over the duration of 6.25 days. An error window of 4 ppm appears to be suitable for metabolite identification when using post-calibration. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that sodium formate cluster ions could be utilized for the calibration of LC/ESI-TOF MS and the average instrumental errors could be maintained at low levels for long-term analyses. This method could be applied not only to urine sample, but also to low sodium samples, such as saliva, by dissolving the sample in 1 µM sodium formate solution. This method provides a good solution for accurate mass detection of metabolomic analysis.