Comparison of assays for determination of peptide content for lyophilized thymalfasin*

Abstract: Precise determination of the peptide content in drug substance samples depends highly upon the particular peptide compound and methodology used. Four independent methods were evaluated and compared to determine which would produce the best experimental precision for analysis of thymalfasin (thymosin α‐1). Four different methods were evaluated including elemental analysis (CHN), quantitative amino acid analysis (AAA), high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and Kjeldahl. This study demonstrates that the AAA method is highly variable in one laboratory while quite precise in another laboratory. Similarly, HPLC results depended on the laboratory conducting the study with more precise values obtained under cGMP. On the contrary, the CHN method yielded highly precise [i.e. <2% coefficient of variation (CV)] values. As precise knowledge of protein content is fundamental for the compounding of final pharmaceutical product of a specific potency, the CHN analysis is recommended for peptide content determination of the drug substance thymalfasin.     

Atypical Form of the Fourth Criterion for Transient Entrainment

The typical fourth criterion for transient entrainment is defined when both a sudden shortening in conduction interval to and a distinct change in electrogram morphology at a bipolar recording site are demonstrated while performing overdrive pacing of a reentrant tachycardia from a single pacing site at two different constant rates. The purpose of this article was to test the hypothesis that if an intracardiac recording site showing both orthodromic and antidromic capture with entrainment pacing is located suitably distant from the circuit, sudden shortening in conduction interval to that site may occur without any significant change in the bipolar electrogram morphology (i.e., atypical form of the fourth criterion). Atrial overdrive pacing of orthodromic tachycardia was performed in 20 patients with either left anterior (12 patients) or left posterior (8 patients) accessory pathways. We investigated the effects of overdrive pacing from the proximal or distal coronary sinus, specifically effects on the electrogram interval and the electrogram morphology at the right atrial appendage. Overdrive pacing of orthodromic tachycardia from the proximal coronary sinus was performed in 10 of the 12 patients with left anterior accessory pathways; those 10 patients demonstrated the first entrainment criterion at the right atrial appendage site. Overdrive pacing of orthodromic tachycardia at still shorter cycle lengths demonstrated a sudden shortening in conduction interval to the right atrial appendage site. Despite shortening in conduction interval the morphology of the right atrial appendage electrogram was completely or almost identical to that during orthodromic tachycardia, indicating an atypical form of the fourth criterion. This criterion was not demonstrated in patients with left posterior accessory pathways. Thus, atypical fourth entrainment criterion was demonstrated during overdrive pacing of orthodromic tachycardia from the proximal coronary sinus only in patients with left anterior accessory path ways. Demonstration of atypical fourth criterion seems largely dependent on the location of the accessory pathway, the pacing, and the recording sites.     

Understanding capture detection.

Automatic capture detection systems are currently available in several cardiac pacing devices. All current systems use low-polarization electrodes and no beat to beat detection system is available for all types of electrodes. In addition the success ratio for currently available systems is not always 100%. Failure to detect capture reliably is often related to the behaviour of the electrode-tissue interface under different circumstances. Pacemaker electrodes can be considered electrochemical cells with complicated characteristics depending on time, temperature and electrical charge. This electrochemical cell is disturbed when a charge is transferred across the electrode-tissue interface during pacing. Several measures can be taken in order to minimise this disturbance or pace polarization artefact (PPA) including the use of high active surface area electrodes and application of tri-phasic pacing pulses. Another factor influencing detection of evoked potentials is the input circuit of the pacemaker affecting the PPA and the evoked response. Positive PPAs can be falsely interpreted as evoked potentials due to the undershoot of the second order filters applied in modern cardiac pacemakers. This paper explains the behaviour of the interface between the electrode and the cardiac tissue in combination with the pacemaker output circuits and input amplifiers under different circumstances.     

应用激光显微分离技术在骨肉瘤组织原位筛选噬菌体肽库

目的将激光显微分离(laser capture microdissection, LCM) 技术应用于噬菌体表面呈现肽库的筛选过程,建立一种可以直接在天然组织中筛选肽库的方法。方法将新鲜人骨肉瘤组织块在噬菌体肽库溶液振荡孵育后制成组织冰冻切片,免疫组化染色检测噬菌体在组织中的浸润扩散。改进常规LCM切片处理方法,以冻干法替代酒精/二甲苯法脱水,以期在LCM操作过程中提高切片上噬菌体的存活率。LCM法分离摄取骨肉瘤切片上的肿瘤靶细胞,转染回收这些细胞上特异结合的噬菌体。滴定法检测所筛选的噬菌体对特异性细胞的亲和力。结果利用LCM技术,可以由肿瘤冰冻切片上收集到足够的与特异性噬菌体短肽,应用于噬菌体表面呈现肽库筛选。经过3轮筛选后所获得的噬菌体与人骨肉瘤组织的特异性亲和力提高16倍。结论本研究首次将LCM技术应用于噬菌体表面呈现肽库的筛选,可以使我们直接在新鲜人肿瘤组织中筛选与特定细胞群甚至单个细胞亲合的短肽;同时又避免了天然组织中其他杂质细胞的污染,为研制细胞特异性导向载体提供了一个新的途径。     

以乙二胺为核心的聚酰胺-胺树形高分子的合成及毛细管电泳分离研究

在-30℃下合成了1．0G～6.0G聚酰胺．胺(PAMAM)树形高分子，并采用核磁共振、元素分析对其进行了表征；采用毛细管电泳对1．0GPAMAM进行了分离。结果表明：在该温度下合成的PAMAM具有较好的结构完整性，而毛细管电泳是一种有效的分离提纯PAMAM树形高分子的方法。     

前列腺上皮内瘤变的基因微阵列分析

目的:通过基因微阵列分析,研究经显微切割后的前列腺上皮内瘤变(PIN)的基因表达谱,并将其与前列腺良性增生(BPH)及前列腺癌的mRNA基因表达谱进行对比,探讨前列腺癌的发生、发展,检测PIN及前列腺癌的肿瘤标志物。方法:采用美国Affymetrix公司的HG-U133A基因芯片,检测了16例人的前列腺组织标本,包括5例良性标本,6例PIN以及5例前列腺癌标本,均为新鲜冰冻组织。为了精确获得上皮细胞基因表达谱,避免周围间质细胞及单核细胞的RNA 对结果的影响,我们采用了激光捕获显微切割技术,分别得到了3组纯的上皮细胞群进行研究。结果:有些基因的表达强度在从良性增生到PIN到癌的转化过程中,呈逐渐改变的趋势,但笔者发现3组间基因表达谱存在非常显著的差异。与BPH及前列腺癌相比,PIN有其独特的基因表达谱。结论:基因表达谱中显著上调及下调的特异性基因,可以将PIN 和BPH及前列腺癌中区分开来;基因微阵列分析也有助于揭示代谢通路及信号转导途径的变化,有利于靶基因治疗。     

Synthesis of the antigen bovine serum albumin‐ergosterol and its immunocharacterization

Fungal contamination of agricultural commodities leads to their spoilage and renders them unfit for human consumption. Ergosterol, a predominant sterol in most fungi and a major constituent of the cell membrane, has been established as a reliable biochemical marker for fungal growth. Various chemical and physico‐chemical methods to quantify ergosterol as an index of fungal contamination are in practice. Yet, immunoassays are the methods of choice in food analysis due to their increased specificity, sensitivity and rapidity. This paper reports the synthesis of an antigen, bovine serum albumin‐ergosterol conjugate, and its immunocharacterization. Ergosterol was converted to ergosterol hemisuccinate (EHS) by succinylation. Subsequently, EHS was conjugated to bovine serum albumin by the mixed anhydride reaction. The molar ratio was found to be 1:28. Antisera raised against the synthesized antigen in rabbits was characterized by the Ouchterlony double‐diffusion technique and an antibody capture assay. Ouchterlony analysis showed a titre of 1:2. Further, characterization by an antibody capture assay, using 50 ng well (10 ng equivalent of ergosterol) of the antigen, gave a titre of 1:4000 dilution of antiserum, with an absorbance of 1.0 at 405 nm. The synthesized antigen may find an application in the development of an immunoanalytical method for ergosterol quantification as a measure of food quality in relation to fungal contamination.     

Chromatin interactions in differentiating keratinocytes reveal novel atopic dermatitis– and psoriasis-associated genes

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Expression of Sonic hedgehog pathway genes is altered in colonic neoplasia

The Hedgehog (Hh) signalling pathway is crucial for normal development and patterning of numerous human organs including the gut. Hh proteins are also expressed during gastric gland development and gastric epithelial differentiation in adults. Recently, dysregulation of these developmentally important genes has been implicated in cancer, leading to the present study of the expression of Hh signalling proteins in colon cancer. In this study, normal colon and colonic lesions (hyperplastic polyp, adenoma, and colonic adenocarcinoma) were examined by immunohistochemistry using antibodies against Hh signalling molecules: the secreted protein Sonic hedgehog (SHH), its receptor Patched (PTCH), and the PTCH-associated transmembrane protein Smoothened (SMOH). The study shows that Hh signalling pathway members are expressed in normal colonic epithelium. SHH was expressed at the top of the crypts and in a few basally located cells, while PTCH was detected in the neuroendocrine cells and SMOH at the brush border of superficial epithelium. RT-PCR analysis of laser-microdissected crypts from normal human colon confirmed that mRNAs encoding these proteins were expressed in colonic epithelium. Expression of SHH, PTCH, and SMOH was up-regulated in hyperplastic polyps, adenomas, and adenocarcinomas of the colon, and SHH expression correlated with increased expression of the proliferation marker Ki-67 in all lesions examined. To address whether the Hh signalling pathway is functional in the gut, the effect of Shh on epithelial cells in vitro was explored by treating primary murine colonocytes with either Shh peptide or neutralizing anti-Shh antibody. The proportion of cells in the S-phase was assessed by bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation. It was found that exogenous Shh promotes cell proliferation in colonocytes, while anti-Shh inhibits proliferation, suggesting that Shh is required during proliferation of epithelial cells in vitro. It is suggested that SHH is required during epithelial proliferation in the colon and that there is a possible role for Hh signalling in epithelial colon tumour progression in vivo.