Validation of a simplified procedure for convenient and rapid quantification of reduced and oxidized glutathione in human plasma by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry analysis.

Endogenous glutathione (GSH) and glutathione disulfide (GSSG) status is highly sensitive to oxidative conditions and have broad application as a surrogate indicator of redox status in vivo. Established methods for GSH and GSSG quantification in whole blood display limited utility in human plasma, where GSH and GSSG levels are ~3-4 orders of magnitude below those observed in whole blood. This study presents simplified sample processing and analytical LC-MS/MS approaches exhibiting the sensitivity and accuracy required to measure GSH and GSSG concentrations in human plasma samples, which after 5-fold dilution to suppress matrix interferences range from 200 to 500 nm (GSH) and 5-30 nm (GSSG). The utility of the methods reported herein is demonstrated by assay performance and validation parameters which indicate good sensitivity [lower limits of quantitation of 4.99 nm (GSH) and 3.65 nm (GSSG), and high assay precision (intra-assay CVs 3.6 and 1.9%, and inter-assay CVs of 7.0 and 2.8% for GSH and GSSG, respectively). These methods also exhibited exceptional recovery of analyte-spiked plasma samples (98.0 ± 7.64% for GSH and 98.5 ± 12.7% for GSSG). Good sample stability at -80°C was evident for GSH for up to 55 weeks and GSSG for up to 46 weeks, with average CVs <15 and <10%, respectively.

An evidence-based approach to globally assess the covariate-dependent effect of the MTHFR single nucleotide polymorphism rs1801133 on blood homocysteine: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The single nucleotide polymorphism of the gene 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T (or rs1801133) is the most established genetic factor that increases plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) and consequently results in hyperhomocysteinemia. Yet, given the limited penetrance of this genetic variant, it is necessary to individually predict the risk of hyperhomocysteinemia for an rs1801133 carrier. Objective: We hypothesized that variability in this genetic risk is largely due to the presence of factors (covariates) that serve as effect modifiers, confounders, or both, such as folic acid (FA) intake, and aimed to assess this risk in the complex context of these covariates. Design: We systematically extracted from published studies the data on tHcy, rs1801133, and any previously reported rs1801133 covariates. The resulting metadata set was first used to analyze the covariates' modifying effect by meta-regression and other statistical means. Subsequently, we controlled for this modifying effect by genotype-stratifying tHcy data and analyzed the variability in the risk resulting from the confounding of covariates. Results: The data set contains data on 36 rs1801133 covariates that were collected from 114,799 participants and 256 qualified studies, among which 6 covariates (sex, age, race, FA intake, smoking, and alcohol consumption) are the most frequently informed and therefore included for statistical analysis. The effect of rs1801133 on tHcy exhibits significant variability that can be attributed to effect modification as well as confounding by these covariates. Via statistical modeling, we predicted the covariate-dependent risk of tHcy elevation and hyperhomocysteinemia in a systematic manner. Conclusions: We showed an evidence-based approach that globally assesses the covariate-dependent effect of rs1801133 on tHcy. The results should assist clinicians in interpreting the rs1801133 data from genetic testing for their patients. Such information is also important for the public, who increasingly receive genetic data from commercial services without interpretation of its clinical relevance. This study was registered at Research Registry with the registration number reviewregistry328.

Dietary supplementation of N-acetylcysteine enhances early inflammatory responses during cutaneous wound healing in protein malnourished mice.

Prolonged wound healing is a complication that contributes to the morbidity and mortality of protein malnutrition (PM). The molecular mechanisms that underlie impaired wound healing in PM may begin in the early inflammatory stage of the process. We hypothesized that the impaired wound healing observed in PM occurs as a consequence of excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) production that impairs the wound healing process by depressing nuclear factor kappa B (NFkappaB) activation and the subsequent synthesis and release of proinflammatory cytokines that are critical mediators of the inflammatory response. In this study, we showed that the time to wound closure was significantly prolonged in PM mice. During the early wound healing in PM, inhibitory kappa B alpha (IkappaBalpha), interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) expression and neutrophil infiltration were significantly decreased in PM mice. The role of excess ROS in PM was demonstrated by using transgenic mice with overexpression of copper zinc superoxide dismutase and with dietary supplementation of N-acetylcysteine (NAC). Both interventions improved the extent of wound closure in PM mice. Moreover, NAC supplementation in PM mice restored the expression of IkappaBalpha, IL-1beta and TNF-alpha and infiltration of neutrophils to levels observed in control animals. These findings support the notion that wound healing defects in PM may result from dysregulation of ROS-mediated and NFkappaB-regulated signaling pathways.

Enhancement of in vitro and in vivo microdialysis recovery of SB-265123 using Intralipid and Encapsin as perfusates.

This study was conducted to compare the ability of two potential microdialysis perfusates to enhance the recovery of SB-265123, a lipophilic, highly protein-bound compound, both in vitro and in vivo. Initial in vitro experiments established that the recovery of SB-265123 by microdialysis using normal saline as a perfusate was poor (1.7%). Different concentrations of Intralipid and Encapsin also were evaluated in an identical in vitro setting, to determine enhancement of recovery. In vitro recovery was enhanced to approximately 24 and 65% with 5 and 20% Intralipid, and to approximately 59 and 62% with 5 and 20% Encapsin, respectively. A rat in vivo study was conducted with 20% Encapsin to confirm the in vitro observations. In the in vivo study, 75-80% recovery of free SB-265123 was achieved using 20% Encapsin as a perfusate. The results from this study indicate that for SB-265123, a lipophilic, highly protein-bound molecule, Encapsin is an efficient recovery enhancer in vitro. The results from this investigation further demonstrate that a recovery enhancer may be useful for in vivo applications, even with a compound that is highly bound to plasma protein.