Signal transduction mechanisms subserving activity-dependent release of neuronal proteoglycans

Development of a novel running buffer for the simultaneous determination of nitrate and nitrite in human serum by capillary zone electrophoresis

In order to improve NO2- peak height and obtain a convenient buffer system for the assay of nitrogen monooxide metabolites, we developed a novel running buffer for the simultaneous determination of nitrite and nitrate in human serum by capillary electrophoresis. The addition of cetyltrimethylammonium chloride to the running buffer resulted in high-speed separation using reverse electroosmotic flow. Highly sensitive determination was also achieved using stacking with 10-fold diluted sample solutions. The samples were injected hydrodynamically for 100 s into a 50 cm x 75 microm I.D. capillary. The separation voltage was 10 kV (negative polarity). UV detection was performed at 214 nm. We obtained complete separation of nitrite and nitrate in deproteinized human serum within 6 min with optimum analytical conditions. Linear calibration curves for nitrite and nitrate for both peak height and peak area were obtained with standard addition method. The limits of detection obtained at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 for nitrite and nitrate were 4.1 and 2.0 microM, while the values of relative standard deviation of peak height were 2.4 and 2.6%, respectively.

Capillary electrophoresis analysis of nitrite and nitrate in sub-microliter quantities of airway surface liquid

We developed a simple capillary electrophoresis (CE) method to measure nitrite and nitrate concentrations in submicroliter samples of rat airway surface liquid (ASL), a thin (10-30 microm) layer of liquid covering the epithelial cells lining the airways of the lung. The composition of ASL has been poorly defined, in large part because of the small sample volume (approximately 1-3 microl per cm2 of epithelium) and difficulty of harvesting ASL. We have used capillary tubes for ASL sample collection, with microanalysis by CE using a 50 mM phosphate buffer (pH 3), with 0.5 mM spermine as a dynamic flow modifier, and direct UV detection at 214 nm. The limit of detections (LODs), under conditions used, for ASL analysis were 10 microM for nitrate and 30 microM for nitrite (SIN= 3). Nitrate and nitrite were also measured in rat plasma. The concentration of nitrate was 102+/-12 microM in rat ASL and 70+/-1.0 microM in rat plasma, whereas nitrite was 83+/-28 microM in rat ASL and below the LOD in rat plasma. After instilling lipopolysaccharide intratracheally to induce increased NO production, the nitrate concentration in ASL increased to 387+/-16 microM, and to 377+/-88 microM in plasma. The concentration of nitrite increased to 103+/-7.0 microM for ASL and 138+/-17 microM for plasma.

Simultaneous analysis of nitrite, nitrate and the nicotinamide nucleotides by capillary electrophoresis: application to biochemical studies and human extracellular fluids

A simple but rapid capillary electrophoresis method was developed for the measurement of nitrite and nitrate in human extracellular fluids and other aqueous solutions. The capabilities of the method were demonstrated by the measurement of endogenous nitrite and nitrate in plasma and serum samples from healthy volunteers, and serum and synovial fluid samples from rheumatoid arthritis patients. Furthermore, this method was used to simultaneously measure nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, reduced (NADH), nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), nitrite, and nitrate, when studying the nitrite reductase activity of xanthine oxidase. The stability of nitrite was also investigated and it was found that when whole blood was spiked with nitrite and then processed, the nitrite was more stable in the plasma than in the serum. Our findings may help to explain the variations in basal nitrite concentrations reported in the literature.

Analysis of nitrate in biological fluids by capillary electrophoresis

Nitrite and nitrate represent the products of the final pathway of nitric oxide metabolism. These two ions were analyzed by capillary electrophoresis (CE) in serum, cerebrospinal fluid, urine and tissue homogenates by mixing the sample with acetonitrile containing NaBr as an internal standard, followed by centrifugation. The supernatant was injected hydrodynamically on a capillary 50 cm x 75 microns (I.D.) and electrophoresed at 6 kV (reversed polarity) in 1.4% sodium chloride in phosphate buffer for 13 min with detection at 214 nm. In addition to removal of the proteins, acetonitrile caused sample stacking. Urinary nitrate analysis by CE was compared to that by the enzymatic Aspergillus nitrate reductase method, with a correlation coefficient of 0.96.

Excitatory amino acid regulation of astrocyte proteoglycans

Activity-dependent enduring change in cellular communication is essential for specific connectivity during development of the nervous system and for adaptive responses of the mature nervous system. Here we report that glutamate activation of excitatory amino acid receptors induces the synthesis and release of proteoglycans (PGs) from fetal hippocampal-astrocytes in dissociated culture. PG synthesis and release are mediated via kainate and metabotropic receptor activation. Glutamate exposure did not regulate the release of a specific family of PG, but glutamate inhibited the synthesis of heparan sulfate (HS) PGs that appeared within the extracellular environment of the astrocyte. Particulate protein kinase C (PKC) activity was increased by glutamate and the PKC activator phorbol 10-myristate 13-acetate produced a dose-dependent increase in PG release. However, glutamate-induced PG release was not blocked by inhibition of PKC activity. These data suggest that PKC activation can lead to PG release, but is not necessary for it. Activity-dependent influences on a class of substrate-bound molecular species with growth-modulatory properties may be involved in spatial regulation of neuronal growth responses produced by excitatory amino acids.