Novel adsorptive polyamine coating for enhanced capillary electrophoresis of basic proteins and peptides

Protein analysis using capillary electrophoresis coupled to mass spectrometry through vibrating sharp-edge spray ionization

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) interfaced to mass spectrometry (MS) with electrospray ionization typically incorporates acidic additives or organic solvents to assist in ionization. Vibrating sharp-edge spray ionization (VSSI) is a voltage-free method to interface CE and MS that does not require these additives, making it appealing for protein analyses. CE-VSSI nanoflow sheath separations are performed with low ionic strength aqueous solutions in the sheath to reduce suppression. Serine is also included in the sheath to reduce analyte adduction. Proteins are detected in the 2.5-10 µM range, corresponding to an injected mass range of 0.1-1.2 ng. The anionic proteins β-lactoglobulin and transferrin are resolved using an unmodified fused silica capillary because they do not exhibit nonspecific surface adsorption. Conversely, separations of cationic proteins cytochrome c, ribonuclease A, and α-chymotrypsinogen A in an unmodified capillary require acidic background electrolytes to overcome adsorption. Alternatively, a semipermanent coating comprised self-assembled lipids overcomes surface adsorption at a neutral pH. Separations with zwitterionic and hybrid cationic coatings are complete within 15 or 6 min, respectively. The dimeric form of triosephosphate isomerase was observed at a 60 µM, corresponding to a mass of 19 ng, by dropping the temperature of the MS inlet.

Highly sensitive analysis of four hemeproteins by dynamically-coated capillary electrophoresis with chemiluminescence detector using an off-column coaxial flow interface

Dynamic coating of the surface in capillary electrophoresis with chemiluminescence detection (CE-CL) using an off-column coaxial flow interface for the determination of four hemeproteins was developed. This method is based on the luminol-hydrogen peroxide reaction catalyzed by metalloproteins in alkaline medium. The experimental setup of the CE-CL system with the proposed off-column coaxial interface was evaluated by separation and detection of dopamine and catechol based on inhibition of the luminol-potassium ferricyanide reaction. Highly efficient separation of the two model compounds with symmetrical peak shape and satisfactory reproducibility was achieved by using this interface. In addition, in order to obtain a good resolution for hemeproteins, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) combined with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) were introduced as dynamic modifiers to reduce the unwanted adsorption of non-specific protein. Several parameters affecting the CE separation and CL detection were investigated in detail. Under the optimized conditions, a mixture of the four hemeproteins (horseradish peroxidase (HRP), catalase (Cat), myoglobin (Mb) and cytochrome C (Cyt C)) could be well separated within 20 min. The linear ranges of the four proteins were 5.7 × 10(-8) to 1.1 × 10(-6) mol L(-1) for HRP, 4.0 × 10(-8) to 2.0 × 10(-6) mol L(-1) for Cat, 1.1 × 10(-10) to 5.6 × 10(-8) mol L(-1) for Mb, and 3.8 × 10(-7) to 7.7 × 10(-6) mol L(-1) for Cyt C. The limits of detection (LODs) (S/N = 3) for HRP, Cat, Mb and Cyt C were 2.2 × 10(-8) mol L(-1) (104.5 amol), 1.6 × 10(-8) mol L(-1) (74 amol), 5.6 × 10(-11) mol L(-1) (0.26 amol), and 1.95 × 10(-7) mol L(-1) (0.89 fmol), respectively. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the analysis of low-level Mb in a spiked human urine sample and the recoveries were above 97%. Our primary result demonstrated that the proposed CE-CL method has great potential for Mb determination in clinical diagnosis.

Contribution of CE to the analysis of protein or peptide biomarkers

Biomarker analysis is pivotal for disease diagnosis and one important class of biomarkers is constituted by proteins and peptides. This review focuses on protein and peptide analyses from biological fluids performed by capillary electrophoresis. The various strategies that have been reported to prevent difficulties due to the handling of real samples are described. Innovative techniques to overcome the complexity of the sample, to prevent the adsorption of the analytes on the inner capillary wall, and to increase the sensibility of the analysis are summarized and illustrated by different applications. To fully illustrate the contribution of CE to the analysis of biomarkers from human sample, two detailed protocols are given: the analysis from CSF of five amyloid peptide, biomarkers of the Alzheimer disease, and the analysis of sialoforms of transferrin from human serum.

Poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide-co-4-(ethyl)-morpholine methacrylamide) copolymer as coating for CE

In this work, a new physically adsorbed coating for CE is presented. This coating is based on a poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide-co-4-(ethyl)-morpholine methacrylamide) (DMA/MAEM) copolymer synthesized in our laboratory. It is demonstrated that the direction and magnitude of the EOF in CE can be modulated by varying the composition of the DMA/MAEM copolymer and the type and pH of the BGE. Moreover, the DMA/MAEM coating provides %RSD(n) = 5 values for migration times lower than 0.9% for the same capillary and day, whereas the %RSD(n) = 25 obtained for the interday assay was lower than 2.9%. The stability of the coating procedure is also tested between capillaries obtaining %RSD(n) = 15 values lower than 2.9%, demonstrating that this physically adsorbed copolymer gives rise to a stable and reproducible coating in CE. Finally, the usefulness of this new cationic copolymer as CE coating is demonstrated through different applications. Namely, it is demonstrated that the CE separation of basic proteins, nucleotides and organic acids is achieved in a fast and easy way by using the DMA/MAEM coated capillary. The use of fused bare silica capillaries did not allow the separation of these compounds under the same analytical conditions. These results demonstrate that this type of coating in CE provides the option of using BGEs that are useless when utilized together with bare silica capillaries making wider the application and possibilities of this analytical technique.

Analysis of anthocyanins in red onion using capillary electrophoresis-time of flight-mass spectrometry

For the first time, a capillary electrophoresis-time of flight-mass spectrometry analysis method for detecting anthocyanins in red onion was developed. The analysis method included the use of silica capillaries coated with poly-LA 313 (polycationic amine-containing polymer) and an MS-compatible volatile background electrolyte (BGE). The method was environmentally friendly and sensitive; and its rapidness combined with an acidic BGE helped in preventing anthocyanin degradation. By using high-resolution TOF-MS with pre-run tuning of masses, low mass errors were achieved in the determination of conjugated anthocyanins in red onion, and a simultaneous up-front fragmentation provided confirmation of the aglycon backbone for their secure identification. Most anthocyanins (at least seven out of ten) known in red onion from the literature were found, as well as one new for this matrix.

Recent developments in CE and CEC of peptides

The article brings a comprehensive survey of recent developments and applications of high-performance capillary electromigration methods, zone electrophoresis, ITP, IEF, affinity electrophoresis, EKC, and electrochromatography, to analysis, preparation, and physicochemical characterization of peptides. New approaches to the theoretical description and experimental verification of electromigration behavior of peptides and to methodology of their separations, such as sample preparation, adsorption suppression, and detection, are presented. Novel developments in individual CE and CEC modes are shown and several types of their applications to peptide analysis are presented: conventional qualitative and quantitative analysis, purity control, determination in biomatrices, monitoring of chemical and enzymatical reactions and physical changes, amino acid and sequence analysis, and peptide mapping of proteins. Some examples of micropreparative peptide separations are given and capabilities of CE and CEC techniques to provide important physicochemical characteristics of peptides are demonstrated.

CE of tricyclic antidepressant clomipramine and metabolites: Electromigration and wall adsorption

CE of tricyclic antidepressants clomipramine and its metabolites demethylclomipramine, didemethylclomipramine and 8-hydroxyclomipramine resulted in partly extremely tailing peaks in bare fused-silica capillaries. Especially at high pH of the BGE this behavior was not unexpected as adsorption of the cationic analytes onto the negatively charged wall due to electrostatic attraction can be supposed. Less expected was the observation that peak tailing could not be overcome neither by using a capillary with dynamic coating with cationic CTAB added to the BGE, nor by the usage of a capillary permanently coated with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), both operated at acidic pH. As this tailing was even more pronounced than with bare fused silica, and was suppressed upon addition of MeCN to the BGE, another source of adsorption than pure ion-ion interaction seems plausible. In the bare silica capillary the mobility, mu, of the analytes followed roughly the pH dependence of a monoacidic base, but two deviations from the sigmoid theoretical curve were evident: (i) even at low pH the mobilities were not constant; they decreased in contrary with pH over the entire range; (ii) the apparent pK(a) values of two analytes, derived at the pH with halve the mobility at low pH, are significantly smaller than the thermodynamic pK(a). Upon modifying the expression for mu = f(pH), and considering the pH dependence of the negative charge density at the wall by an additional term which takes chromatographic retention into account, an equation was derived which enables the description of the observed electromigration of the analytes as function of pH, pK(a) of analytes and surface silanol groups, actual mobility of analytes, distribution coefficient (or retention factor) due to adsorption including its pH dependence. The interplay of electrophoretic movement and residual adsorptive retention allowed to resolve the analytes finally in an uncoated capillary, namely at pH 7.65 (30 mM ionic strength), whereas at the cost of the robustness of the separation system.

Capillary electrophoresis–mass spectrometry for the analysis of intact proteins

Developments in the fields of protein chemistry, proteomics and biotechnology have increased the demand for suitable analytical techniques for the analysis of intact proteins. In 1989, capillary electrophoresis (CE) was combined with mass spectrometry (MS) for the first time and its potential usefulness for the analysis of intact (i.e. non-digested) proteins was shown. This article provides an overview of the applications of CE-MS within the field of intact protein analysis. The principles of the applied CE modes and ionization techniques used for CE-MS of intact proteins are shortly described. It is shown that separations are predominantly carried out by capillary zone electrophoresis and capillary isoelectric focusing, whereas electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) are the most popular ionization techniques used for interfacing. The combination of CE with inductively coupled plasma (ICP) MS for the analysis of metalloproteins is also discussed. The various CE-MS combinations are systematically outlined and tables provide extensive overviews of the applications of each technique for intact protein analysis. Selected examples are given to illustrate the usefulness of the CE-MS techniques. Examples include protein isoform assignment, single cell analysis, metalloprotein characterization, proteomics and biomarker screening. Finally, chip-based electrophoresis combined with MS is shortly treated and some of its applications are described. It is concluded that CE-MS represents a powerful tool for the analysis of intact proteins yielding unique separations and information.

High throughput analysis of tryptophan metabolites in a complex matrix using capillary electrophoresis coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry

A capillary electrophoresis method for separation and detection with time-of-flight mass spectrometry is described for tryptophan metabolites in the kynurenic pathway. Tryptophan metabolites are usually difficult to detect with electrospray mass spectrometry since they have low surface activity and occur in low nanomolar to micromolar range in body fluids. Modification of the silica-wall with 1-(4-iodobutyl)4-aza-1-azoniabicyclo[2,2,2]octane iodide, also named M7C4I, has successfully been used to deactivate the fused silica wall and generate a stable reversed electroosmotic flow. Utilizing this advantage together with electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, which generates high resolution and fast acquisition monitoring of species, proved to be successful even for such a complex matrix like human cerebrospinal fluid.

Selective sampling of multiply phosphorylated peptides by capillary electrophoresis for electrospray ionization mass spectrometry analysis

The ionization of phosphorylated peptides in positive ion mode mass spectrometry is generally less efficient compared with the ionization of their non-phosphorylated counterparts. This can make phosphopeptides much more difficult to detect. One way to enhance the detection of phosphorylated proteins and peptides is by selectively isolating these species. Current approaches of phosphopeptide isolation are based on the favorable interactions of phosphate groups with immobilized metals. While these methods can be effective in the extraction, they can lead to incomplete sample recovery, particularly for the most strongly bound multiply phosphorylated components. A non-sorptive method of phosphopeptide isolation using capillary electrophoresis (CE) was recently reported [Zhang et al., Anal. Chem. 77 (2005) 6078]. The relatively low isoelectric points of phosphopeptides cause them to remain anionic at acidic sample pH. Hence, they can be selectively injected into the capillary by an applied field after the electroosmotic flow (EOF) is suppressed. The technique was previously coupled with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS). In this work, the exploitation of selective sampling in conjugation with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) is presented. The transition was not immediately straightforward. A number of major alterations were necessary for ESI interfacing. These adaptations include the choice of a suitable capillary coating for EOF control and the incorporation of organic solvent for efficient ESI. As expected, selective injection of phosphopeptides greatly enhanced the sensitivity of their detection in ESI-MS, particularly for the multiply phosphorylated species that were traditionally most problematic. Furthermore, an electrophoretic separation subsequent to the selective injection of the phosphopeptides was performed prior to analysis by ESI-MS. This allowed us to resolve the multiply phosphorylated peptides present in the samples, predominantly based on the number of phosphorylation sites on the peptides.