Development of the thin film solid phase microextraction (TF-SPME) method for metabolomics profiling of steroidal hormones from urine samples using LC-QTOF/MS.

In the present study, the development and optimization of a thin film solid phase microextraction method (TF-SPME) was conducted for metabolomics profiling of eight steroid compounds (androsterone, dihydrotestosterone, dihydroepiandrosterone, estradiol, hydroxyprogesterone, pregnenolone, progesterone and testosterone) from urine samples. For optimization of extraction method, two extraction sorbents (PAN-C18 and PS-DVB) were used as they are known to be effective for isolation of low-polarity analytes. The stages of sample extraction and analyte desorption were considered as the most crucial steps in the process. Regarding the selection of the most suitable desorption solution, six different mixtures were analyzed. As a result, the mixture of ACN: MeOH (1:1, v/v) was chosen in terms of the highest analytes' abundances that were achieved using the chosen solvent. Besides other factors were examined such as the volume of desorption solvent and the time of both extraction and desorption processes. The analytical determination was carried out using the ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with high resolution tandem mass spectrometry detection in electrospray ionization and positive polarity in a scan mode (UHPLC-ESI-QTOF/MS). The developed and optimized TF-SPME method was validated in terms of such parameters as extraction efficiency, recovery as well as matrix effect. As a result, the extraction efficiency and recovery were in a range from 79.3% to 99.2% and from 88.8% to 111.8%, respectively. Matrix effect, calculated as coefficient of variation was less than 15% and was in a range from 1.4% to 11.1%. The values of both validation parameters (recovery and matrix effect) were acceptable in terms of EMA criteria. The proposed TF-SPME method was used successfully for isolation of steroids hormones from pooled urine samples before and after enzymatic hydrolysis of analytes.

Are Alpha-2D Adrenoceptor Subtypes Involved in Rat Mydriasis Evoked by New Imidazoline Derivatives: Marsanidine and 7-Methylmarsanidine?

The imidazoline compounds may produce mydriasis after systemic administration to some species (rats, cats, and mice). In mydriatic activity of imidazolines, α2D-adrenoceptors subtype(s) seems to be involved. In this study, the pupil dilatory effect evoked by 2 newly synthesized imidazoline derivatives-α2-adrenoceptor agonists: marsanidine and 7-methylmarsanidine-was compared. The compounds were tested alone as well as in the presence of α2-adrenoceptor antagonists (nonselective, yohimbine, and selective toward the following α2-adrenoceptor subtypes-α2A-2-[(4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazol-2-yl)methyl]-2,3-dihydro-1-methyl-1H-isoindole maleate (BRL44408), α2B-2-[2-(4-(2-methoxyphenyl)piperazin-1-yl)ethyl]-4,4-dimethyl-1,3-(2H,4H)-isoquinolindione dihydrochloride (ARC239), α2C-JP1302, α2D-2-(2,3-dihydro-2-methoxy-1,4-benzodioxin-2-yl)-4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazole hydrochloride [RX821002]). The agonists were studied in male Wistar rats and were administered intravenously in cumulative doses. The antagonistic compounds were given in a single dose before the experiment with marsanidine or 7-methylmarsanidine. Pupil diameter was measured with stereoscopic microscope equipped in green light filter. Marsanidine and 7-methylmarsanidine exerted marked mydriatic effects. BRL44408, JP1302, and ARC239 did not cause significant parallel shift to the right of the dose-effect curves obtained for both imidazolines. In case of yohimbine and RX821002, the marked parallel shifts of dose-response curves were observed, with the antagonistic effects of RX821002 more pronounced. In vivo pharmacodynamics experiment suggests that α2D-adrenoceptor subtype is mainly engaged in mydriatic effects evoked in rats by imidazoline derivatives, in particular by clonidine.

Comparative pharmacodynamic analysis of imidazoline compounds using rat model of ocular mydriasis with a test of quantitative structure-activity relationships.

Imidazol(in)e derivatives, having the chemical structure similar to clonidine, exert diverse pharmacological activities connected with their interactions with alpha2-adrenergic receptors, e.g. hypotension, bradycardia, sedation as well as antinociceptive, anxiolytic, antiarrhythmic, muscle relaxant and mydriatic effects. The mechanism of pupillary dilation observed after systemic administration of imidazol(in)es to rats, mice and cats depends on the stimulation of postsynaptic alpha2-adrenoceptors within the brain. It was proved that the central nervous system (CNS)-localized I1-imidazoline receptors are not engaged in those effects. It appeared interesting to analyze the CNS-mediated pharmacodynamics of imidazole(in)e agents in terms of their chromatographic and calculation chemistry-derived parameters. In the present study a systematic determination and comparative pharmacometric analysis of mydriatic effects in rats were performed on a series of 20 imidazol(in)e agents, composed of the well-known drugs and of the substances used in experimental pharmacology. The eye pupil dilatory activities of the compounds were assessed in anesthetized Wistar rats according to the established Koss method. Among twenty imidazol(in)e derivatives studied, 18 produced diverse dose-dependent mydriatic effects. In the quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR) analysis, the pharmacological data (half maximum mydriatic effect - ED50 in µmol/kg) were considered along with the structural parameters of the agents from molecular modeling. The theoretically calculated lipophilicity parameters, CLOGP, of imidazol(in)es, as well as their lipophilicity parameters from HPLC, logkw, were also considered. The attempts to derive statistically significant QSAR equations for a full series of the agents under study were unsuccessful. However, for a subgroup of eight apparently structurally related imidazol(in)es a significant relationship between log(1/ED50) and logkw values was obtained. The lack of "predictive" QSAR for the whole series of the structurally diverse agents is probably due to a complex mechanism of the ligand-alpha2-adrenergic receptor interactions, which are predominantly of a highly structurally specific polar nature. Such interactions are difficult to quantify with the established chemical structural descriptors, contrary to the less specific, molecular bulkiness-related interactions.

HPLC-MS/MS method for dexmedetomidine quantification with Design of Experiments approach: application to pediatric pharmacokinetic study.

AIM: The purpose of this work was to develop and validate a rapid and robust LC-MS/MS method for the determination of dexmedetomidine (DEX) in plasma, suitable for analysis of a large number of samples. METHOD: Systematic approach, Design of Experiments, was applied to optimize ESI source parameters and to evaluate method robustness, therefore, a rapid, stable and cost-effective assay was developed. The method was validated according to US FDA guidelines. LLOQ was determined at 5 pg/ml. The assay was linear over the examined concentration range (5-2500 pg/ml), Results: Experimental design approach was applied for optimization of ESI source parameters and evaluation of method robustness. The method was validated according to the US FDA guidelines. LLOQ was determined at 5 pg/ml. The assay was linear over the examined concentration range (R2 > 0.98). The accuracies, intra- and interday precisions were less than 15%. The stability data confirmed reliable behavior of DEX under tested conditions. CONCLUSION: Application of Design of Experiments approach allowed for fast and efficient analytical method development and validation as well as for reduced usage of chemicals necessary for regular method optimization. The proposed technique was applied to determination of DEX pharmacokinetics in pediatric patients undergoing long-term sedation in the intensive care unit.

Mydriasis model in rats as a simple system to evaluate α2-adrenergic activity of the imidazol(in)e compounds.

Imidazol(in)e compounds show the diversity of pharmacological effects including mydriasis, hypotension, sedation, bradycardia and hypothermia. At first it was postulated that these effects are mediated via α2-adrenoceptors exclusively. Clonidine is well known as a model agent to produce pupillary dilation in rats. However, it became obvious later that clonidine-like imidazol(in)e adrenoceptor agonists which produced mydriasis in rats, exhibit also a high affinity for imidazoline I1-receptors. That short report attempts to review the present status of studies to confirm that the mydriasis model in rats can be a selective system to evaluate the α2-adrenergic activity of potential pharmacologically active compounds of imidazol(in)e structure.

A new pH/organic modifier gradient RP HPLC method for convenient determination of lipophilicity and acidity of drugs as applied to established imidazoline agents.

Convenient drug candidates testing methods for lipophilicity and acidity are highly requested in modern pharmaceutical research and development strategy. Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP HPLC) might be particularly useful for the determination of both pK(a) and the apparent (pH-dependent) octanol-water partition coefficient, applicable in high-throughput analysis of multi-component mixtures. In this report the pH/organic modifier gradient RP HPLC is presented as a means of simultaneous determination of acidity and lipophilicity of a series of 26 imidazoline-like drugs. The previously theoretically elaborated approach has been applied consisting in retention measurements in a series of methanol gradient runs differing in pH range and duration of the gradient. The simultaneously determined lipophilicity and dissociation constants have been demonstrated to correlate to the respective parameters form calculation chemistry. The proposed approach can be applied to compound mixtures, it requires only minute amounts of substances, and pK(a) values can be determined in the range 3-10 units and lipophilicity log P parameter in the range 0-7 units.

Micellar liquid chromatography for lipophilicity determination of new biologically active 1,3-purinodiones.

A series of newly synthesized 1,3-purinodiones with potential anticonvulsant activity, exhibiting affinity to adenosine A(1) and/or A(2A) receptors, were subjected to micellar LC (MLC) with SDS as micelle-forming agent and n-propanol as organic modifier. Two C18 silica-based columns were employed in MLC: a particle one and a monolithic. In parallel, those derivatives were also analyzed in RP-LC on four silica-based columns and on an immobilized artificial membrane column. The correlations between the relevant logarithms of the retention factors of analytes obtained in MLC, immobilized artificial membrane and RP-LC systems on the one hand, and the calculated log P (clog P) and log D values (clog D) on the other, were examined. The level of the correlations of retention data from MLC and RP-LC systems with clog P and clog D obtained is similar but it could be stressed that MLC allows increasing the speed of analysis and using only one mobile phase. Moreover, there is no need of applying an extrapolation procedure in lipophilicity determination. Therefore, the MLC systems, providing chromatographic data in a fast and efficient manner, were demonstrated as promising alternatives to the classical RP-LC systems to estimate the lipophilicity of drugs and drug candidates.

Artificial neural networks analysis used to evaluate the molecular interactions between selected drugs and human alpha1-acid glycoprotein.

Quantitative structure-retention relationships (QSRR) were proposed for alpha(1)-acid glycoprotein (AGP) column using physicochemical molecular descriptors of the selected drugs and interacting with that column. The set of 52 structurally diverse drug compounds, with experimentally derived logarithms of retention factors (log k) values was considered. Thirty-six physicochemical property descriptors were calculated by standard molecular modeling and used to establish QSRR and predict the retention data by artificial neural network (ANN). The QSRR indicated that heat of formation (HF), Moriguchi n-octanol-water partition coefficient (M log P) and the energy of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) are the most important for interactions between drugs and AGP. The proposed ANN model based on selected molecular descriptors showed a high degree of correlation between log k observed and computed. The final model possessed a 36-5-1 architecture and correlation coefficients for learning, validating and testing sets equaled 0.975, 0.950 and 0.972, respectively.

Simultaneous determination of pKa and lipophilicity by gradient RP HPLC.

High-performance methods of testing of drug candidates for properties of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics importance, in particular lipophilicity and acidity, are necessary to overcome innovation stagnation in the pharmaceutical industry. Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP HPLC) might be a unique tool for the determination of both pKa and the apparent (pH-dependent) partition coefficient, applicable in high-throughput analysis of multicomponent mixtures, e.g., samples originating from automated synthesis. In this work, the pH/organic modifier gradient RP HPLC is presented as a means of simultaneous determination of an analyte's acidity and lipophilicity. The approach consists of retention measurements in a series of methanol gradient runs differing in pH range and duration of the gradient. Two different models of the influence of pH on retention in organic modifier gradient RP HPLC are compared regarding the quality of the simultaneously determined lipophilicity and dissociation constants. Advantages of the proposed approach over currently employed procedures are that it can be applied to compound mixtures, it requires only minute amounts of substances, and pKa values can be determined in the range 3-10 units and lipophilicity in the range 0-7 units. Verification of the reliability of the parameters determined by the new method was demonstrated on a series of 93 acidic and basic drug analytes.

Prediction of the affinity of the newly synthesised azapirone derivatives for 5-HT1A receptors based on artificial neural network analysis of chromatographic retention data and calculation chemistry parameters.

The performance of artificial neural network (ANN) in predicting the affinity of a series of 65 new azapirone derivatives for rat brain serotonin 5-HT1A receptors based on high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) retention data and on non-empirical structural parameters of the compounds' was studied. Affinity of the agents for rat brain 5-HT1A receptors were assessed in vitro and expressed as inhibitor constant values, Ki. The retention parameters determined in 14 HPLC systems along with compounds' structural descriptors from calculation chemistry were considered in ANN analysis. Supervised method of ANN learning with back-propagation strategy was used in ANN calculations. Two models of ANN of similar architecture were designed: the first one for the data based on chromatographic retention data and the second based on structural parameters of the agents. Each ANN model was trained with the data of training set. It was next used to classify the agents from the testing set into two groups: active (Ki < 50 nM) and inactive compounds (Ki > 50 nM). A high prediction performance of both ANN models considered as regards the affinity of new azapirone derivatives for the serotonin 5-HT1A receptors was demonstrated. However, the percent of correctly classified compounds was higher in the case of the ANN processing of the non-empirical structural descriptors of azapirone derivatives. Since the ANN analysis of the retention data and of the structural parameters originating from calculation chemistry allows to segregate drug candidates according to their pharmacological properties that, in consequence, may be of help to limit the number of biological assays in the search for new drugs.

New approaches to chromatographic determination of lipophilicity of xenobiotics.

Liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis are unique tools for fast and efficient modeling of pharmacokinetic properties of drug candidates. Therefore numerous new separation methods and procedures have very recently been introduced to facilitate the high-throughput screening of biopartitioning features of xenobiotics. This report is a concise, up-to-date review of progress in the chromatographic assessments of data of importance for medicinal chemistry and molecular pharmacology.

Chromatographic retention parameters in medicinal chemistry and molecular pharmacology.

The importance of lipophilicity for pharmacological and toxicological potency of xenobiotics has been recognized for a century. The reference lipophilicity scale is defined by the logarithm of partition coefficient, log P, determined in the l-octanol-water partition system. The tediousness of determinations and limited interlaboratory reproducibility of log P, on one hand, and the observations of linear relationship between log P and chromatographic retention parameters, on the other hand, gave rise to the substitution of the former by the readily available chromatographic data. Since its introduction, the reversed-phase high - performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), which has been viewed in terms of partition of a solute between a polar, aqueous mobile phase and a nonpolar stationary phase appeared especially suitable for lipophilicity (hydrophobicity) determination. The method got wide acceptance and has officially been recommended by the OECD. Fundamental relationships between chromatographic parameters are reviewed from the point of view of convenient and reliable lipophilicity measurements. The advantages and disadvantages of the stationary phase materials, which are presently employed for the determination of lipophilicity as well as those of specific HPLC systems and procedures, are critically reported. The literature on the application of chromatographic and electrochromatographic methods for assessment of lipophilicity of xenobiotics is reviewed. A separate paragraph is devoted to interpretation of retention parameters from HPLC systems comprising biomacromolecules. Role of lipophilicity in drug-biomacromolecule interactions is discussed in terms of quantitative structure-retention relationships (QSRR). Finally, reports are analyzed on systemic information which can be extracted by multivariate methods of data processing, like principal component analysis (PCA), from sets of lipophilicity parameters determined in diverse HPLC systems.