Screening of mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors in natural product extracts by capillary electrophoresis in combination with high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

Screening of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors from natural products via origami microfluidic paper-based analytical devices with colorimetric detection

We report the screening of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors on an origami microfluidic paper-based analytical device (μPAD) using colorimetric detection. The hydrolysis product reacts with ninhydrin, resulting in a purple color at the detection zones. Images of the μPADs are captured using a common cell phone and analyzed with Photoshop software. This platform allows six independent colorimetric reactions to take place simultaneously, and the IC50 values can be obtained in a single run within 22 min. The relative standard deviations of inhibition efficiencies are generally lower than 4.0 % (n = 5). The IC50 values of captopril and five products from natural plants were obtained and corresponded well with UV methods. The relative deviations between the two methods are within the range of -5 % to +5 %. This work is a proof-of-concept successfully demonstrating the use of μPADs technology to screen enzyme inhibitors from natural products.

Recent advances in screening of enzymes inhibitors based on capillary electrophoresis

Capillary electrophoresis with many advantages plays an important role in pharmaceutical analysis and drug screening. This review gives an overview on the recent advances in the developments and applications of capillary electrophoresis in the field of enzyme inhibitor screening. The period covers 2013 to 2017. Both the pre-capillary enzyme assays and in-capillary enzyme assays which include electrophoretically mediated microanalysis (EMMA) and immobilized enzyme microreactor (IMER) are summarized in this article.

Antineoplastic drugs and their analysis: a state of the art review

We provide an overview of the analytical methods available for the quantification of antineoplastic drugs in pharmaceutical formulations, biological and environmental samples.

Human neutrophil elastase inhibition studied by capillary electrophoresis with laser induced fluorescence detection and microscale thermophoresis

Capillary electrophoresis-laser induced fluorescence (CZE-LIF) and microscale thermophoresis (MST) were used for the first time to study the inhibition of human neutrophil elastase (HNE). We recently studied HNE kinetics (Km and Vmax) by developing an in-capillary CZE-LIF assay based on transverse diffusion of laminar flow profiles (TDLFP) for reactant mixing. In this work, the former assay was adapted to monitor HNE inhibition. Two natural well known HNE inhibitors from the triterpene family, ursolic acid and oleanolic acid, were tested to validate the developed assay. Since the solubility of pentacyclic triterpenes in aqueous media where the enzymatic reaction will take place is limited, the effect of DMSO and ethanol on HNE was studied using microscale thermophoresis (MST). An agglomeration of the enzyme was revealed when preparing the inhibitor in 5% (v/v) DMSO. This phenomenon did not occur in the presence of ethanol. Therefore, ethanol was used as inhibitor solvent, at a limited percentage of 20% (v/v). In these conditions and after optimization of the TDLFP approach, the repeatability (RSD on migration times and peak-areas inferior to 2.2%) of the CZE-LIF assay and the sensitivity (LOQ of few nM) were found to be satisfactory for conducting inhibition assays. IC50 values for ursolic and oleanolic acid were successfully determined. They were respectively equal to 5.62±0.10μM (r(2)=0.9807; n=3) and to 8.21±0.23μM (r(2)=0.9887; n=3). Excellent agreement was found between the results obtained by CE and those reported in literature which validates the developed method. Particularly, the CE-based assay is able to rank HNE inhibitors relative to each other. Furthermore, MST technique was used for evaluating HNE interaction with the ursolic acid. Up to 16 capillaries were automatically processed to obtain in one titration experiment the dissociation constant for the HNE-ursolic acid complex. Ki was found to be 2.72±0.66μM (n=3) which is in excellent agreement with the value determined by CE enzyme inhibition studies (Ki=2.81μM) confirming the reliability of the developed CE assay and the competitive inhibition mode of ursolic acid.

Chemical Analysis of the Herbal Medicine Salviae miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma (Danshen)

Radix Salviae miltiorrhizae et Rhizoma, known as Danshen in China, is one of the most popular traditional Chinese medicines. Recently, there has been increasing scientific attention on Danshen for its remarkable bioactivities, such as promoting blood circulation, removing blood stasis, and clearing away heat. This review summarized the advances in chemical analysis of Danshen and its preparations since 2009. Representative established methods were reviewed, including spectroscopy, thin layer chromatography, gas chromatography, liquid chromatography (LC), liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), capillary electrophoresis, electrochemistry, and bioanalysis. Especially the analysis of polysaccharides in Danshen was discussed for the first time. Some proposals were also put forward to benefit quality control of Danshen.