Rapid authentication of different herbal medicines by heating online extraction electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

The rapid and accurate authentication of traditional Chinese medicines(TCMs)has always been a key scientific and technical problem in the field of pharmaceutical analysis.Herein,a novel heating online extraction electrospray ionization mass spectrometry(H-oEESI-MS)was developed for the rapid and direct analysis of extremely complex substances without the requirement for any sample pretreatment or pre-separation steps.The overall molecular profile and fragment structure features of various herbal medicines could be completely captured within 10–15 s,with minimal sample(<0.5 mg)and solvent consumption(<20μL for one sample).Furthermore,a rapid differentiation and authentication strategy for TCMs based on H-oEESI-MS was proposed,including metabolic profile characterization,characteristic marker screening and identification,and multivariate statistical analysis model validation.In an analysis of 52 batches of seven types of Aconitum medicinal materials,20 and 21 key compounds were screened out as the characteristic markers of raw and processed Aconitum herbal medicines,respectively,and the possible structures of all the characteristic markers were comprehensively identified based on Compound Discoverer databases.Finally,multivariate statistical analysis showed that all the different types of herbal medicines were well differentiated and identified(R^(2)X>0.87,R^(2)Y>0.91,and Q^(2)>0.72),which further verified the feasibility and reliability of this comprehensive strategy for the rapid authentication of different TCMs based on H-oEESI-MS.In summary,this rapid authentication strategy realized the ultra-high-throughput,low-cost,and standardized detection of various complex TCMs for the first time,thereby demonstrating wide applicability and value for the development of quality standards for TCMs.

Studies on Fragmentation Pathways of N-Ethoxy(phenyl) phosphoryl Amino Acids by Electrospray Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry

The positive and negative ESI-MS/MS spectra of N-ethoxy（phenyl） phosphoryl amino acids（EPP-AA） were investigated by electrospray ionization（ESI） ion trap mass spectrometry. The fragmentation pathways of [ M ＋ Na]^＋ and [ M - H]^- ions are proposed and rationalized. The observation may have some potential applications in the interpretation of the MS/MS spectra of novel N-phosphoryl compounds. The complexity of MS/MS spectra of EPP-AA [ M ＋ Na]^＋ ions is decreased compared with that of N-dialkyloxyphosphoryl amino acid. Therefore, the new phosphonamidate method may be considered one of the superior methods that can be used in sequencing peptides and proteins extensively.

Analysis of Norditerpenoid Alkaloids Extracted from Aconitum sinomantanum Nakai by Electrospray Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry（ESI-MS） was applied simultaneously in determining norditerpenoid alkaloids from the roots of Aconitum sinomantanum Nakai （RAS） based on molecular mass information. The tandem mass spectra（ ESI-MS^n） provided the alkaloidal structural information, through which the existence of these alkaloids was further confirmed. Accordingly, six known norditerpenoid alkaloids were simultaneously determined on the basis of their ESI-MS^n spectra. Furthermore, based on the diagnostic fragmentation pathways of alkaloidal MS^n, a rapid method for direct detection and characterization of alkaloids from an ethanolic extract of RAS was described.

Liquid Chromatography-electrospray Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry for Simultaneous Determination of Metformin and Glimepiride in Beagle Dog Plasma and Bioequivalence Study

A sensitive and selective liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry（LC- ES1-MS/MS） was used for the simultaneous determination of metformin and glimepiride in beagle dog plasma with glipizide as internal standard（IS）. After simplified protein precipitation with methanol, both the analytes and IS were chromatographed on a Zorbax CN column via gradient elution with methanol（containing 5 mmol/L ammonium ace- tate） and 5 mmol/L aqueous ammonium acetate as the mobile phase. Detection was performed by multiple reaction monitoring（MRM） scanning via ESI source operated in positive ionization mode. Specificity, linearity, accuracy, pre- cision, recovery, matrix effect and stability were validated for metformin and glimepiride in beagle dog plasma. The calibration curves were linear in a concentration range of 10-10000 ng/mL for metformin and 4-4000 ng/mL for glimepiride with both correlation coefficients higher than 0.99. The recoveries obtained for the analytes and IS were all between 82.7% and 101.2%. The method exhibited excellent performance in terms of selectivity, robustness, short analytical time and simplicity of sample preparation. Finally, the proposed method was applied to a bioequivalence study of self-made bilayer tablet and commercial formulation containing 500 mg of metformin and 1 mg of glimepi- ride in beagle dogs.

Effects of Temperature and Energy on Stability of Oligomeric Enzyme Probed on Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry

Escherichia coli 3-Deoxy-D-manno-octulosonate 8-phosphate（KDO8P） synthase catalyzed the condensation reaction between D-arabinose 5-phosphate（A5P） and phosphoenolpyruvate（PEP） to form KDO8P and inorganic phosphate（Pi）. The noncovalent tetrameric association ofKDO8P synthase was observed and dissociated in gas phase by means of electrospray ionization mass spectrometry under the very ＂soft＂ conditions. The results indicate that PEP-bound enzyme generated abundant tetrameric species as well as monomeric species at the ＂soft＂ conditions, whereas, the unbound enzyme favored the formation of a dimeric species. The mass spectra of the mixture of the enzyme with one of substrates, PEP, and A5P or one of products, KDO8P and Pi show that the complex of the unbound enzyme with PEP or Pi was prone to the formation of a monomeric species, whereas, that of the unbound enzyme with A5P or KDO8P was similar to the unbound enzyme. The intensity of the dimeric species increased with the increase of temperature at a collision voltage of 10 V. Taken together, the results presented here suggest that mass spectrometry will be a powerful tool to explore subtile conformational changes and/or subunit-subunit interactions of multiprotein assembly induced by ligand-binding and/or the changes of environmental conditions.

Studies on Fragmentation of Peptide by Nano-electrospray Ionization Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Multi-stage Tandem Mass Spectrometry

The sequence analysis of peptides was performed by nano-electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance tandem mass spectrometry（Nano-ESI-FT-ICR-MSn） and several peptides were chosen as examples. With the aid of the collision induced dissociation（CID）, FT-ICR provides not only precise mass/charge ratio, but also structure information of the selected peptides. The fragment ions were identified according to the observed molecular weights and peptide sequence was determined successfully. So Nano-ESI-FT-ICR-MSn is a useful tool for identification of the amino acid sequence of peptides with high confidence. Besides, a pathway for the dehydration of y ions without amino acids containing carboxylic acid under sustained off-resonance irradiation collision-induced dissociation（SORI-CID） condition was proposed.

Fast Screening of Chicken Egg Lysozyme in White Wine Products by Extractive Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry

Fast detection of trace lysozyme,one of the most important food allergens in white wine samples,was achieved by extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry without sample pretreatment in this study.The multiply-charged ions of m/z1587 were chosen for the quantitative detection of lysozyme in white wine,showing linear dynamic signal responses in a range of 5―75μg/mL with a linearity coefficient of 0.999 and an acceptable relative standard deviation（RSD） of 8.0%―15.0% for directly measuring lysozyme in the complex food samples.The limit of detection for lysozyme in white wine sample was calculated to be 5 μg/mL,which was lower than the amounts that can provoke allergic reactions（oral test with 3 mg or labial test with 1 mg/mL）.A single sample analysis was completed within 1 min.The data demonstrate that extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry is a useful tool for fast screening lysozyme in the complex matrix,showing promising application in the rapid detection of food allergen.

Unraveling enhanced membrane lipid biosynthesis in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii starchless mutant sta6 by using an electrospray ionization mass spectrometry-based lipidomics method

The unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii,a well-established model organism,has been widely used in dissecting glycerolipid metabolism in oxygenating photosynthetic organisms.In previous studies,it has been found that shunting carbon precursors from the starch synthesis pathway can lead to a 10-fold increase in TAG content as compared to the wild type,but it is unknown whether inactivation of AGPase may affect membrane lipids biosynthesis.The study aims to investigate global changes in lipid metabolism and homeostasis in the starchless mutant C.reinhardtii sta6.By utilizing an electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry(ESI/MS)-based lipidomics approach,a total of 105 membrane lipid molecules of C.reinhardtii were resolved,including 16 monogalactosyldiacylglycerol(MGDG),16 digalactosyldiacylglycerol(DGDG),11 phosphatidylglycerol(PG),6 sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol(SQDG),49 diacylglyceryl-N,N,N-trimethylhomoserine(DGTS),2 phosphatidylethanolamine(PE),and 5 phosphatidylinositol(PI)molecules.The quantitative results indicated that the membrane lipid profiles were similar between the two C.reinhardtii strains grown under both low-and high-light conditions,but the cellular contents of a great number of lipids were altered in sta6 due to the defect in starch biosynthesis.Under low-light conditions,sta6 accumulated more PI,MGDG,DGDG but less amounts of DGTS as compared to WT.Under high light,sta6 cells contained higher content membrane lipids than cc-124,except for PG,which is more or less similar in both strains.Our results demonstrate that the cellular membrane lipid homeostasis underwent profound changes in the starchless mutant,and thereby its physiological impact remains to be explored.

Molecular Probes in Tandem Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry: Application to Tracing Chemical Changes of Specific Phospholipid Molecular Species

New ionization and detection techniques in mass spectrometry have been successfully applied for efficient analyses of complex biological systems. It is, however, still difficult to trace structural changes of a specific molecular species in such systems. In the present study, a molecular probe strategy in combination with tandem electrospray ionization mass spectrometry has been examined using synthetic deuterium-labeled phosphatidylcholine hydroperoxide (PC-OOH/D3) and ethyl-labeled phosphatidylcholine having docosahexaenoic acid side chain (DHA-PC/Et). Administration of a mixture of PC-OOH/D3 and DHA-PC/Et to human blood and human skin surface, followed by extraction and analysis with collision-induced tandem electrospray ionization mass spectrometry demonstrated that metabolites of both molecular probes can be detected simultaneously with strict selectivity. The present method is also found to be useful in tracing chemical changes of the unstable docosahexaenoyl group on the surface of processed fish. The activity of phospholipase A2 can also be assessed using a phospholipid molecular probe with a linoleoyl and a deuteriomethyl group via selective detection of the lyso-phospholipid product by mass spectrometry. The advantage of the present method is that no chromatographic separation is required and analysis can be performed under strictly the same condition for different molecular probes, affording multiple data by one experiment. The present strategy may be useful for tracing time-dependent phenomena in dynamic phospholipid biochemistry, and can be widely used for any biological and food systems.

Identification,structure elucidation and origin of a common pyridinium-thiocyanate intermediate in electrospray mass spectrometry among the benziamidazole-class proton pump inhibitors

During the analysis of benziamidazole-class irreversible proton pump inhibitors,an unusual mass spectral response with the mass-to-charge ratio at[Mt10]t intrigued us,as it couldn't be assigned to any literature known relevant structure,intermediate or adduct ion.Moreover,this mysterious mass pattern of[Mt10]t has been gradually observed by series of marketed proton pump inhibitors,viz.omeprazole,pantoprazole,lansoprazole and rabeprazole.All the previous attempts to isolate the corresponding component were unsuccessful.The investigation of present work addresses this kind of signal to a pyridinium thiocyanate mass spectral intermediate(10),which is the common fragment ion of series of labile aggregates.The origin of such aggregates can be traced to the reactive intermediates formed by acid-promoted degradation.These reactive intermediates tend to react with each other and give raise series of complicated aggregates systematically in a water/acetonitrile solution by electrospray ionization.The structure of the corresponding pyridinium thiocyanate species of omeprazole(10a)has been eventually characterized with the help of synthetic specimen(10a′).Our structural proposal as well as its origin was supported by in situ nuclear magnetic resonance,chemical derivatization and colorimetric experiments.

Studies on the Basic Conformation of Lysozyme by Electrospray Ionization-Mass Spectrometry(ESI-MS)

In the present work, 2-mercaptoethanol and dithiothreitol were used to hydrogenise the internal disulfide bond in lysozyme. The experimental results indicate that the charge distribution of the proteins are different in the reaction process. From the calculated molecular weight, the reduction process of the disulfide bond in the molecules can be described, and the number of the disulfide bonds in the molecule can also be determined.

Analyzing Brazilian Driver’s License Authenticity by Easy Ambient Sonic-Spray Ionization Mass Spectrometry

Fast and unequivocal methods of questioned document analysis are essential in forensic science. Here, a desorption/ionization technique, EASI-MS, was assessed for its ability to investigate questioned driver’s licenses (DL). Two suspects DL, displaying the same personal data in the proper fields (name and ID numbers), but with different individual photos, showing similar impressions on microscopic analysis, and authentic standards documents specimens were used as test cases. Profiles from authentic DL surface were dominated by a set of few minor ions, mainly from the plasticizers bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate and dibutylphthalate. The seized suspect counterfeit DL on points from personal data and photo were, however, dominated by abundant diagnostic ions of m/z 463, 507, 551, 595, 639, 683, which confirmed counterfeiting. Surfynol® and Nonoxynol-9®, which are common constituents of inkjet printing, were detected in the counterfeiting areas by high-accuracy EASI(+)-FT-ICR MS. The EASI-MS technique is shown therefore to offer an attractive tool for forensic investigation of questioned documents.

Nanokit coupled electrospray ionization mass spectrometry for analysis of angiotensin converting enzyme 2 activity in single living cell

Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2(ACE2) is not only an enzyme but also a functional receptor on cell membrane for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2). Here, the activity of ACE2 in single living cell is firstly determined using a nanokit coupled electrospray ionization mass spectrometry(nanokit-ESI-MS). Upon the insertion of a micro-capillary into the living h ACE2-CHO cell and the electrochemical sorting of the cytosol, the target ACE2 enzyme hydrolyses angiotensin II inside the capillary to generate angiotensin 1-7. After the electrospray of the mixture at the tip of the capillary, the product is differentiated from the substrate in molecular weight to achieve the detection of ACE2 activity in single cells. The further measurement illustrates that the inflammatory state of cells does not lead to the significant change of ACE2 catalytic activity, which elucidates the relationship between intracellular ACE2 activity and inflammation at single cell level. The established strategy will provide a specific analytical method for further studying the role of ACE2 in the process of virus infection, and extend the application of nanokit based single cell analysis.

Comparison of different approaches for direct coupling of solid-phase microextraction to mass spectrometry for drugs of abuse analysis in plasma

The direct coupling of solid-phase microextraction(SPME)to mass spectrometry(MS)(SPME-MS)has proven to be an effective method for the fast screening and quantitative analysis of compounds in complex matrices such as blood and plasma.In recent years,our lab has developed three novel SPME-MS techniques:SPME-microfluidic open interface-MS(SPME-MOI-MS),coated blade spray-MS(CBS-MS),and SPME-probe electrospray ionization-MS(SPME-PESI-MS).The fast and high-throughput nature of these SPME-MS technologies makes them attractive options for point-of-care analysis and anti-doping testing.However,all these three techniques utilize different SPME geometries and were tested with different MS instruments.Lack of comparative data makes it difficult to determine which of these methodologies is the best option for any given application.This work fills this gap by making a comprehensive comparison of these three technologies with different SPME devices including SPME fibers,CBS blades,and SPME-PESI probes and SPME-liquid chromatography-MS(SPME-LC-MS)for the analysis of drugs of abuse using the same MS instrument.Furthermore,for the first time,we developed different desorption chambers for MOI-MS for coupling with SPME fibers,CBS blades,and SPME-PESI probes,thus illustrating the universality of this approach.In total,eight analytical methods were developed,with the experimental data showing that all the SPME-based methods provided good analytical performance with R^(2)of linearities larger than 0.9925,accuracies between 81%and 118%,and good precision with an RSD%≤13%.

The isolation and identification of apolipoprotein C-I in hormone-refractory prostate cancer using surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Androgens play a central role in prostate cancer pathogenesis, and hence most of the patients respond to androgen deprivation therapies. However, patients tend to relapse with aggressive prostate cancer, which has been termed as hormone refractory. To identify the proteins that mediate progression to the hormone-refractory state, we used protein-chip technology for mass profiling of patients＇ sera. This study included 16 patients with metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer who were initially treated with androgen deprivation therapy. Serum samples were collected from each patient at five time points： point A, pre-treatment; point B, at the nadir of the prostate- specific antigen （PSA） level; point C, PSA failure; point D, the early hormone-refractory phase; and point E, the late hormone-refractory phase. Using surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, we performed protein mass profiling of the patients＇ sera and identified a 6 640-Da peak that increased with disease progression. Target proteins were partially purified, and by amino acid sequencing the peak was identified as a fragment of apolipoprotein C-I （ApoC-I）. Serum ApoC-I protein levels increased with disease progression. On immunohistochemical analysis, the ApoC-i protein was found localized to the cytoplasm of the hormone-refractory cancer cells. In this study, we showed an increase in serum ApoC-I protein levels in prostate cancer patients during their progression to the hormone-refractory state, which suggests that ApoC-I protein is related to progression of prostate cancer. However, as the exact role of ApoC-I in prostate cancer pathogenesis is unclear, further research is required.

Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometry of Pertrimethylsilylated Desulphoglucosinolates

The chemical ionization mass spectra of ten different glucosinolates isolated from rape seed have been studied. More intense diagnostic ions were identified than in the electron impact mass spectra. The method is suitable for the structure analysis of mixture of glucosinolates.

The Application of Electrospray Tandem Mass Spectrometry for <i>de novo</i>Sequencing of Reduced Insulins

Insulin, a blood glucose level mediator, is the mainstream therapeutic choice for diabetes patients. Since patent protection for many originator products is about to expire, manufacturers of follow-on insulin are determined to get their products authorized. According to regulations, a fundamental requirement for biosimilar compounds is that the chemical structure should be the same as that of the originator drug. Hence, the application of qualitative analysis for insulin products is essential during the production and development of biosimilars. In this study, the electrospray tandem MS/MS based de novo sequencing method was developed and validated by analyzing two insulin products with similar primary structures, namely recombinant human insulin and insulin aspart. The results indicated that the complete sequences of both reduced insulins are largely identifiable, although differentiation between leucine and isoleucine is not achieved. More importantly, the observed mass accuracy was substantial. The method can, therefore be applied to quality control and drug development.

MicrobMatcher: a microbial comparison software based on matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization with time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Matrix-assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization with Time-of-flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS) was investigated as a method for the rapid identifica-tion of species. Current demand in microbial identi-fication is how to compare unknown strains to the known one quickly, semi-automatically and accurately. In this paper, we present a software tool that allows flexibly microbial matching in a user-friendly way, by letting the users to customize comparison parameters including: in vitro transcription enzyme, mass tolerance,minimum fragment length, intensity threshold and corresponding weights. We provide three spectral scoring functions to compute the affin-ity between the species. Therefore, the precision of microbial comparison increases. To test and verify this tool, we employed experimental spectral data based on MALDI-TOFMS and the gene sequences of E.coli and Salmonella. This software is written in Java for cross-platform intention.

Real-time toxicity prediction of Aconitum stewing system using extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

Due to numerous obstacles such as complex matrices,real-time monitoring of complex reaction systems(e.g.,medicinal herb stewing system)has always been a challenge though great values for safe and rational use of drugs.Herein,facilitated by the potential ability on the tolerance of complex matrices of extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry,a device was established to realize continuous sampling and real-time quantitative analysis of herb stewing system for the first time.A complete analytical strategy,including data acquisition,data mining,and data evaluation was proposed and implemented with overcoming the usual difficulties in real-time mass spectrometry quantification.The complex Fuzi(the lateral root of Aconitum)-meat stewing systems were real-timely monitored in150 min by qualitative and quantitative analysis of the nine key alkaloids accurately.The results showed that the strategy worked perfectly and the toxicity of the systems were evaluated and predicated accordingly.Stewing with trotters effectively accelerated the detoxification of Fuzi soup and reduced the overall toxicity to 68%,which was recommended to be used practically for treating rheumatic arthritis and enhancing immunity.The established strategy was versatile,simple,and accurate,which would have a wide application prospect in real-time analysis and evaluation of various complex reaction systems.