A method for concentration of nucleoside triphosphates by coprecipitation with calcium fluoride

Comparison of sample preparation methods for the high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of cell culture extracts for triphosphate ribonucleosides and deoxyribonucleosides

We compared four different procedures for the purification and concentration of nucleoside triphosphates in cell extracts prior to HPLC analysis. Two methods involved precipitation, with either acetonitrile or calcium fluoride. The acetonitrile procedure yielded reasonable recovery and sufficient purity for the subsequent HPLC analysis. The calcium fluoride coprecipitation procedure gave both good recovery and purity; but the recovery was shown to be dependent on the concentration of the nucleoside triphosphates. The other two methods involved small Sep-Pak cartridges. The silica cartridge procedure yielded unfavorable recoveries in periodate-treated cell extracts, apparently due to poor solubility of nucleoside triphosphates in the requisite solvents. The strong anion exchange cartridge procedure yielded both good recovery and purity. This procedure was found to be fast, efficient, and reliable for purifying and concentrating nucleotides in cell extracts.

Extraction of adenine nucleotides from cultured endothelial cells

The goal of this work was to find a method suitable for the extraction of adenine nucleotides from cultured vascular endothelial cells. Extraction of cell monolayers with 80% methanol in water yielded extracts with a higher content of ATP than did extraction of cells with perchloric acid, trichloroacetic acid, or boiling water. The optimal extraction solution was 80% methanol with 0.5 mM ethylene glycol bis(beta-aminoethyl ether) N,N'-tetraacetic acid (EGTA) or EDTA, heated to 70 degrees C immediately before use. Extraction of nucleotides by this solution was rapid and the recovery of exogenous ATP added during the extraction process was generally greater than 90%. An aqueous methanol or ethanol solution may be applicable for the extraction of nucleotides and other metabolites from cultured animal cells, dispersed cells, and frozen, powdered tissues.