Binding of four sulphonamides to human albumin

Improved Stabilities of Labeling Probes for the Selective Modification of Endogenous Proteins in Living Cells and In Vivo

To date, various affinity-based protein labeling probes have been developed and applied in biological research to modify endogenous proteins in cell lysates and on the cell surface. However, the reactive groups on the labeling probes are also the cause of probe instability and nonselective labeling in a more complex environment, e. g., intracellular and in vivo. Here, we show that labeling probes composed of a sterically stabilized difluorophenyl pivalate can achieve efficient and selective labeling of endogenous proteins on the cell surface, inside living cells and in vivo. As compared with the existing protein labeling probes, probes with the difluorophenyl pivalate exhibit several advantages, including long-term stability in stock solutions, resistance to enzymatic hydrolysis and can be customized easily with diverse fluorophores and protein ligands. With this probe design, endogenous hypoxia biomarker in living cells and nude mice were successfully labeled and validated by in vivo, ex vivo, and immunohistochemistry imaging.

A Furosemide Excretion Stress Test Predicts Mortality in Mice After Sepsis and Outperforms the Furosemide Stress Test During Vasopressin Administration

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text.

Objectives:

The furosemide stress test measures the volume of urine produced after a furosemide challenge. Furosemide stress test has previously demonstrated sensitive and specific prediction of progression to Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes guideline defined acute kidney injury stage III in the ICU. Furosemide is actively excreted into the nephron lumen where it inhibits the sodium-potassium-chloride cotransporter, causing diuresis. We hypothesize that furosemide excretion is a more direct measure of tubule health than diuresis.

Design:

We developed a furosemide excretion stress test to evaluate this hypothesis in a murine model of septic-acute kidney injury.

Setting:

Basic science laboratory.

Subjects:

Male and female 8-week old CD-1 mice.

Interventions:

Sepsis was induced by cecal ligation and puncture in male and female mice. Furosemide stress test/furosemide excretion stress test started 42 hours post-cecal ligation and puncture with a 1 mg/kg furosemide bolus and urine was collected for 12 hours. The mice were then euthanized or monitored until 7 days post-cecal ligation and puncture. In another cohort, mice were treated with vasopressin, which decreases urine volume. Furosemide concentration was determined by high performance liquid chromatography.

Measurements and Main Results:

Urine production during the 12-hour collection varied from 0.08 to 2.62 mL. Both urine production (furosemide stress test) and furosemide excretion (furosemide excretion stress test) predicted mortality (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.925 and 0.916) and time of death (R² = 0.26 and 0.74). Male and female mice demonstrated consistent results. Following vasopressin treatment, furosemide stress test specificity fell to 33% (p = 0.016) but furosemide excretion stress test specificity was maintained.

Conclusions:

The furosemide stress test and furosemide excretion stress test performed similarly in predicting mortality; however, furosemide excretion stress test was superior in predicting time to death and maintained performance when challenged with vasopressin treatment in a mouse sepsis model.

Predicting plasma protein binding of drugs: a new approach

In spite of the large amount of plasma protein binding data for drugs, it is not obvious and there is no clear consensus among different disciplines how to deal with this parameter in multidimensional lead optimization strategies. In this work, we have made a comprehensive study on the importance of plasma protein binding and the influencing factors in order to get new insights for this molecular property. Our analysis of the distribution of percentage plasma protein binding among therapeutic drugs showed that no general rules for protein binding can be derived, except for the class of chemotherapeutics, where a clear trend towards lower binding could be observed. For the majority of indication areas, however, empirical rules are missing. We present here an extensive list of multiply determined primary association constants for binding to human serum albumin (HSA) for 138 compounds from the literature. Correlating these binding constants with the percentage fraction of protein bound showed that the percentage data above 90%, corresponding to a binding constant below 6 microM, are of insufficient accuracy. Furthermore, it could be demonstrated that the lipophilicity of drugs, traditionally felt to dominate binding to HSA, is not the only relevant descriptor. Here, we report a generic model for the prediction of drug association constants to HSA, which uses a pharmacophoric similarity concept and partial least square analysis (PLS) to construct a quantitative structure-activity relationship. It is able to single out the submicromolar to nanomolar binders, i.e. to differentiate between 99.0 and 99.99% plasma protein binding. Depending on the system, this can be important in medicinal chemistry programs and may together with other computed physicochemical and ADME properties assist in the prioritization of synthetic strategies.

Association of upregulated activity of K(ATP) channels with impaired insulin secretion in UCP1-expressing insulinoma cells

Insulin-secreting MIN6 cells overexpressing uncoupling protein-1 (UCP1) were studied regarding insulin secretion in response to various secretagogues. Overexpression of UCP1 prevented an increase of cytosolic ATP levels induced by glucose. In contrast, glucose utilization was not affected, nor was glycerol phosphate flux. The UCP1-expressing cells showed an inability to increase cytosolic Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)](i)) in response to glucose or alpha ketoisocaproate and this resulted in less insulin secretion, whereas initial reduction in [Ca(2+)](i) occurring upon either nutrient addition was not affected. Moreover, the effectiveness of tolbutamide on [Ca(2+)](i) increase was reduced and the dose-response relations for insulin secretion induced by the agent was shifted toward the right in the UCP1-expressing cells. The resting membrane potential of the UCP1-expressing cells was significantly hyperpolarized by 6.2 mV compared with control cells. In the perforated and conventional whole-cell patch-clamp configurations, the conductance density of ATP-sensitive K(+) (K(ATP)) channels of the UCP1-expressing cells was 6-fold and 1.7-fold greater than that of the control cells, respectively. The sensitivity of K(ATP) channels for tolbutamide was not different between two groups, indicating that in intact cells more than 6-fold higher concentrations of tolbutamide were required to reduce the K(ATP) channel currents of UCP1-expressing cells to the same levels as of the control cells. The current density of the voltage-dependent Ca(2+) channels was not influenced. In conclusion, UCP1-expressing cells showed a refractoriness to respond to tolbutamide as well as nutrients. An upregulated activity of K(ATP) channels was associated with unresponsiveness to the agent in the cells with impaired mitochondrial function.

Pharmacokinetics of tolbutamide in ethnic Chinese

AIMS

Ethnic differences in drug disposition have been described for many drugs. Despite the widespread use of tolbutamide in Asian populations, the pharmacokinetics of tolbutamide, a CYP2C9 substrate, have not been described in ethnic Chinese.

METHODS

The pharmacokinetics of tolbutamide (500 mg orally) were studied in 10 young, healthy volunteers (seven male/three female; age 21-29 years), each of whom had four ethnic Chinese grandparents. Plasma concentrations of tolbutamide were measured for 32 h post-dose by high performance liquid chromatography. The concentrations of hydroxytolbutamide and carboxytolbutamide were also measured in urine for 32 h post-dose. Noncompartmental pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated using standard equations and compared with those previously reported in Caucasian subjects using the Mann-Whitney U test.

RESULTS

Pharmacokinetic parameters in Chinese (mean+/-s.d.) including Cmax (63+/-11 microg ml(-1)), tmax (median 3.3 h; range 1.6-6.0 h), V/F (9.1+/-1.7 l) and t1/2, (9.1 h; harmonic mean) were similar to the values in Caucasians. CL/F (637+/-88 ml h(-1)) was higher in Chinese than Caucasians. The urinary recoveries of hydroxytolbutamide (13+/-1% of dose) and carboxytolbutamide (68+/-5% of dose) and the partial apparent metabolic clearance (0.15+/-0.02 ml min(-1) kg(-1)) in Chinese were comparable with Caucasians.

CONCLUSIONS

The pharmacokinetics of tolbutamide have been described in ethnic Chinese and the disposition is similar to that reported in Caucasians. This study suggests that there is no substantial ethnic difference in the tolbutamide hydroxylase activity of CYP2C9.

High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of furosemide in plasma and urine and its use in bioavailability studies

A sensitive, selective and efficient reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method is reported for the determination of furosemide in human plasma and urine. The method has a sensitivity limit of 5 ng/ml in plasma, with acceptable within- and between-day reproducibilities and good linearity (r2>0.99) over a concentration range from 0.05 to 2.00 microg/ml. The one-step extract of furosemide and the internal standard (warfarin) from acidified plasma or urine was eluted through a muBondapak C18 column with a mobile phase composed of 0.01 M potassium dihydrogenphosphate and acetonitrile (62:38, v/v) adjusted to pH 3.0. Within-day coefficients of variation (C.V.s) ranged from 1.08 to 8.63% for plasma and from 2.52 to 3.10% for urine, whereas between-day C.V.s ranged from 4.25 to 10.77% for plasma and from 5.15 to 6.81% for urine at three different concentrations. The minimum quantifiable concentration of furosemide was determined to be 5 ng/ml. The HPLC method described has the capability of rapid and reproducible measurement of low levels of furosemide in small amounts of plasma and urine. This method was utilized in bioavailability/pharmacokinetic studies for the routine monitoring of furosemide levels in adults, children and neonate patients.

Comparison of five methods for the study of drug-protein binding in affinity capillary electrophoresis

The qualitative and quantitative aspects of capillary electrophoretic methods used to study drug-protein interactions, viz. the affinity capillary electrophoresis (ACE). Hummel-Dreyer (HD), frontal analysis (FA), vacancy peak (VP) and vacancy affinity capillary electrophoresis (VACE) methods have been investigated. In the ACE and the VACE methods the binding parameters can be calculated from the change in the electrophoretic mobility of the drug on complexation with a protein. In the frontal analysis and the vacancy peak method the free drug concentration is measured with UV detection. In the Hummel-Dreyer method the amount of drug bound is measured with UV detection. For the comparison of these five methods the warfarin-bovine serum albumin (BSA) system was used. Several factors that might influence the determination of association parameters were examined. With the FA, VP, HD and VACE methods the absolute numbers of the different binding sites involved in the complex formation can be determined, a major advantage in drug-binding studies.

Determination of the binding of a beta 2-blocker drug, frusemide and ceftriaxone to serum proteins by capillary zone electrophoresis

A modified Hummel-Dreyer method was used to study the binding of drugs with serum proteins by high performance capillary electrophoresis. The study was carried out to check the possible interaction between serum proteins and a highly selective beta 2-blocker, ICI 118551 (ICI). To prove the suitability of the method the protein binding of frusemide and ceftriaxone, drugs previously investigated, was also studied. The analyses were carried out by injecting a solution of s alpha(1)-acidic glycoprotein (alpha(1)-AGP) or human serum albumin in 70 mM NaH2PO4/Na2HPO4(pH 7.4) buffer into an uncoated fused silica capillary filled with the same buffer. In the capillary, maintained at a working temperature of 35 degrees C, a known amount of the ICI, frusemide or ceftriaxone was added. The method allows the bound drug to be determined directly.

Dose-response relationships for furosemide ototoxicity in rat

Furosemide is an ototoxic loop diuretic which is highly bound to serum albumin. Previous studies have shown that rats deficient in albumin are more susceptible to furosemide ototoxicity than are rats with normal serum albumin concentrations. The present study was designed to compare the dose-response relationships for furosemide ototoxicity in rats with normal serum albumin concentration to rats without albumin in their serum. Young adult rats 50-80 days of age from each group were anesthetized with Rompun, and the endocochlear potential (EP) and compound action potential (CAP) thresholds were measured before and after furosemide injection. Afer a stable EP and CAP threshold were measured, each animal was injected with a single dose of furosemide through a cannula in the jugular vein. Rats with normal serum albumin had very little change in the EP or CAP threshold until the dose of furosemide was 40 mg/kg or greater. The dose-response curves for EP reduction and CAP threshold elevation then rose steeply to reach a maximum at 50 mg/kg. Albumin-deficient rats were much more sensitive to the effects of furosemide. The dose-response curves for both EP and CAP were shifted to the left. The doses resulting in half-maximal effects in the albumin-deficient rats were about half that found in the normal rats. These findings support the hypothesis that the access of furosemide to its site of ototoxic action in the cochlea depends on the quantity of unbound furosemide in the serum.

A thermodynamic approach to the binding mechanisms of cefotaxime to serum albumins

The interaction between cefotaxime and the serum albumin of several mammalian species (swine, rabbits, and sheep) at the albumin concentration of 5 x 10(-5) M was studied. Ultrafiltration and spectrophotometric determination of the free antibiotic in the filtrate were used. Binding percentages were determined, and the binding constants and number of sites at various temperatures were calculated. An increase in binding constants, especially in sheep albumin, and an increase in the number of sites from two to three were observed when compared to the results obtained at the physiological albumin concentration. The thermodynamic parameters of interaction varied between the following values: change in Gibbs energy, between -5.7 and -6.4 kcal.mol-1; change in enthalpy, between -6.7 and -9.6 kcal.mol-1; and change in entropy, between -3.1 and -11.2 entropy units. The binding constants increased considerably as the ionic strength of the solution decreased although the number of binding sites remained unchanged. These results indicate the existence of ionic and hydrogen bonds. The possibility of a small contribution from hydrophobic bonds cannot be ruled out.

Displacement of thiopental from human serum albumin by associated drugs

Displacement of thiopental from its binding sites to 4% human serum albumin solution was studied in vitro. Experimental conditions were selected to reproduce a physiological situation. Associations were studied according to the therapeutic conditions of use of the substances (drug and protein concentrations). The unbound fraction of thiopental was obtained by equilibrium dialysis at 37 degrees C and pH 7.4. Eleven drugs were associated with thiopental in 50 combinations of drugs and molar ratios. Bromhexine, citocoline, dextromoramide, dexamethasone, and methotrimeprazine had no effect on thiopental binding. The unbound fraction of thiopental significantly increased with cefamandole, cefazolin, diazepam, desmethyldiazepam, furosemide, and fentanyl. At usual therapeutic drug concentrations, the unbound fraction increase was < 5%. Higher values, however still < 10%, were found with associated drugs that were added at maximal concentrations observed in therapy. The displacement of thiopental from its albumin binding by drugs that are normally associated with the treatment of intracranial hypertension does not modify the pharmacokinetic parameters or pharmacological effect of thiopental.

Effect of a contaminating competitive ligand on ligand-binding curves. Inverse protein concentration dependence

A theoretical binding model is considered which provides an explanation for the inverse protein concentration dependence observed for a variety of ligands. The model describes the inhibition of binding caused by a highly bound contaminant. The complete binding equation is derived and examined in terms of form, limits, and protein dependence. Furthermore, several approximate relations are derived which are useful for obtaining initial estimates of the model parameters and for a qualitative test of the applicability of the model. It is found that the binding curve may show a characteristic plateau at a saturation equal to the uncontaminated fraction of the protein and that the free ligand concentration at half saturation depends linearly on protein concentration. The practical implications of the present findings are discussed based on an analysis of simulated as well as experimental data.

Effect of protein concentration on the binding of gold(I) to human serum albumin

The binding of aurothiosulphate, gold(I), by human serum albumin has been studied by equilibrium dialysis at four different albumin concentrations, 37 degrees, pH 7.2-7.4 and ionic strength 0.15 M. The results show that the interaction of aurothiosulphate with albumin depends on albumin concentration. This observation is linked with the previous observation that the usual independent site description cannot be used to represent the clinically important low concentration data. All the observed dependences are satisfactorily accounted for by assuming that gold(I) competes with a highly bound contaminant for the high affinity (Cys(34)-SH) site. This description is supported by the experimental observation that a fraction of this site is originally blocked both in vivo and in in vitro. The present interpretation yields a high affinity binding constant 100 times larger than found previously and provides an explanation for the lack of correlation between dose and therapeutic and toxic effects in chrysotherapy.

Changes of membrane currents in cardiac cells induced by long whole-cell recordings and tolbutamide

Single isolated myocytes were obtained from the ventricles of adult guinea pig hearts. The whole-cell recording configuration of the patch-clamp technique was used to measure membrane currents. A decrease (run-down) of the Ca2+ inward current and an increase of a time-independent K+ outward current were observed during long lasting (1-3h) recordings. The time at which the outward current developed depended on the intracellular ATP concentration in the pipette, suggesting that this current is identical to the ATP-dependent K+ current described by Noma and Shibasaki (1985). However, the maximum outward current reached in the experiments was independent of the ATP concentration indicating a limited diffusion of ATP in the cell interior. In single-channel experiments on isolated patches of cell membrane and in whole-cell recordings the ATP-dependent K+ current could be blocked by the hypoglycaemic sulphonylurea tolbutamide. The IC50 of 0.38 mM was about 50 times higher than that reported for pancreatic beta-cells (Trube et al. 1986). The Ca2+ inward current and the inwardly rectifying K+ current were not affected by tolbutamide (3 mM).

Regulation of energy metabolism in pancreatic islets by glucose and tolbutamide

The kinetics of insulin secretion and oxygen uptake in response to D-glucose and tolbutamide were compared in mouse pancreatic islets. In addition, the role of decreased ATP as a driving force for secretagogue-induced oxygen consumption was examined. D-glucose (10-30 mmol/l) triggered a biphasic insulin release which always coincided with a monophasic increase in islet oxygen uptake. In the presence of D-glucose (5-30 mmol/l), tolbutamide (3-500 mumol/l) consistently elicited an initial peak of insulin secretion which was followed by a continued decline. Tolbutamide-induced secretory profiles were accompanied by similar respiratory profiles. Oxygen consumption per ng of insulin released during the test phase was higher after elevation of the glucose concentration than after addition of tolbutamide. In conjunction with 5 or 10 mmol/l D-glucose, but not with 15 or 30 mmol/l D-glucose, tolbutamide (30-100 mumol/l) lowered islet ATP content significantly (p less than 0.02). Phosphocreatine was not found in isolated islets, although they contained substantial creatine kinase activity. It is concluded that the driving force for tolbutamide-induced oxygen uptake is a decrease in the phosphorylation potential caused by the work load imposed by stimulation of the secretion process. However, a major proportion of the respiratory response to glucose also results from enhancement of biosynthesis.

Binding of sulfadimethoxine to isolated human blood protein fractions

The binding of sulfadimethoxine to selected human blood protein fractions and to fresh serum has been examined by means of a new equilibrium dialysis technique which minimizes experimental error and permits the evaluation of low-level binding. Certain alpha-globulin fractions, containing mixtures of proteins, were found to bind the drug. Scatchard analysis of the binding of sulfadimethoxine to fresh serum, calculated as though all of the binding is due to albumin, gives a different result from that obtained with isolated albumin. This may be a reflection of the contribution of the alpha-globulins to the overall binding of sulfadimethoxine in fresh serum. Although sulfadimethoxine is amphoteric, it did not bind to the alpha 1-acid glycoprotein. The drug behaves as an acidic compound when binding to the blood proteins.

Comparison of the disposition of total and unbound sulfisoxazole after single and multiple dosing

Plasma concentrations of total and unbound sulfisoxazole were followed after single intravenous and oral doses of 1 g sulfisoxazole and during a 500-mg, four-time-a-day dosing regimen in six healthy males, using a specific high pressure liquid chromatographic assay method. Saturable plasma protein binding was observed at total concentrations above 80-100 mg/liter. The clearance of sulfisoxazole was 18.7 +/- 3.9 ml/min for total drug and 232 +/- 64 ml/min for unbound drug. Renal elimination, on the average, accounted for 49% of the clearance of sulfisoxazole. The apparent volume of distribution for total drug was 10.9 +/- 2.0 liters and 136 +/- 36 liters for unbound drug, indicating that sulfisoxazole is primarily distributed extracellularly. Accumulation of N4-acetyl-sulfisoxazole during multiple dosing did not affect the disposition of sulfisoxazole. Adjusting for variable renal clearances between oral and intravenous administration and using the unbound plasma concentrations, the bioavailability for an oral dose of sulfisoxazole was found to be 0.95 +/- 0.04.

Inverse dependence of binding constants upon albumin concentration. Results for L-tryptophan and three anionic dyes

The interactions of methyl orange, bromocresol green, 2-(4'-hydroxybenzeneneazo)benzoic acid (HABA) and L-tryptophan with human albumin at pH 7.4 were investigated by equilibrium dialysis at 37 degrees C. Binding characteristics of each of the three dyes were studied by two approaches: (1) variation of total ligand concentration with a single albumin concentration and (2) variation of albumin concentration with a single total ligand concentration. Both approaches gave typical Scatchard plots with negative slope for methyl orange and bromocresol green, with good agreement between the two sets of data for each dye. In contrast, approach (2) gave Scatchard plots with a positive slope for HABA and L-tryptophan, indicating a decrease in the number of binding sites (n) and/or association constant (k) as the albumin concentration increased. This inverse dependence of nk upon albumin concentration for 2-(4'-hydroxybenzeneazo)benzoic acid was mainly due to changes in n which were still observed in the presence of inhibitory chloride ions at pH 5.75. Reasons for this type of binding behaviour are discussed together with general implications for binding studies. The results show 2-(4'-hydroxybenzeneazo)benzoic acid to be a useful ligand for investigation of this problem.

Study of binding of low-molecular-weight ligand to biological macromolecules by high-performance liquid chromatography. Evaluation of binding parameters for two drugs bound to human serum albumin

The binding to a biological macromolecule (human serum albumin, HSA) of small molecules (two drugs: warfarin and furosemide) has been studied by high-performance liquid chromatography. Two methods have been used and compared: frontal analysis and the Hummel and Dreyer methods. The association parameters of each of the two drugs on HSA were determined. The results obtained are in good agreement with those previously published using other techniques. The competition of these two drugs for the same site on HSA has also been shown.

Modification of the binding of sulphamidochlorobenzoic acid to human albumin by palmitic acid contamination of albumin

Palmitic acid a common contaminant of albumin preparations, competitively inhibits the binding of sulphamidochlorobenzoicacid (SCBA) to human albumin thus decreasing its observed affinity. The effect of palmitic acid depends on its concentration, i.e. the purity and concentration of the albumin preparation used. The correct value for SCBA affinity was obtained by correcting the experimental data according to the palmitic acid concentration by use of a multiligand analysis method.