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Biomedical subjects

A G Brenton

Publications and source records attributed to A G Brenton.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

Estimation of cytidylyl cyclase activity and monitoring of side-product formation by fast-atom bombardment mass spectrometry.

The enzyme cytidylyl cyclase catalyses the conversion of cytidine 5'-triphosphate into cytidine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate, a third naturally occurring cyclic nucleotide currently under investigation to assign a biochemical function. Quantitation of the activity of this enzyme has been carried out by the positive-ion fast-atom bombardment mass spectrometric analysis of the enzyme incubation mixture after the reaction has been terminated. The data obtained are in good agreement with those obtained from the conventional radiometric and radioimmunoassays of the same enzyme preparations. The advantage of the mass spectrometer-based assay is the facility for multiple component monitoring. Thus, the production of the cytidine diphosphates and monophosphates, and the production of four cytidine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate analogues as side-products, were simultaneously estimated. The identities of two of the side-products, 2'-O-glutamyl- and 2'-O-aspartyl-cytidine-3',5'-cyclic monophosphate, and of the cytidine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate product, were confirmed by mass-analysed ion kinetic energy spectra from the collision-induced dissociation of the protonated molecules.

Animals

Assay of adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate-dependent protein kinase activity by quantitative fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry.

Cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase is conventionally assayed by measuring the incorporation of radiolabeled phosphate into a histone substrate. Here the assay of the protein kinase is carried out by the positive-ion fast atom bombardment mass spectrometric analysis of the enzyme incubation mixture after the reaction has been terminated. The data obtained are in good agreement with those obtained from the conventional radiometric assay of the same kinase preparation. The inherent advantage of this mass spectrometric assay is the capacity for multiple component monitoring; in addition to the kinase activity, the ability of the enzyme to bind cyclic nucleotides, together with integral ATPase and phosphodiesterase activity, can also be estimated from the same spectra.

Cyclic AMP

Analysis of cyclic nucleotide-related enzymes by continuous-flow fast-atom bombardment mass spectrometry.

Continuous-flow fast-atom bombardment mass spectrometry has been developed to directly monitor cyclic nucleotide (substrate) and its product levels from an on-going phosphodiesterase reaction. Analysis of cAMP and cCMP phosphodiesterase incubates have been performed where the temporal evolution of the enzymic reaction is monitored and the effect of enzyme concentration upon the rate of reaction determined. Quantitative data on the enzyme kinetics have been obtained, in the form of Lineweaver-Burke plots, that are shown to correlate well with well-established radiometric methods.

Animals

Quantitation by fast-atom bombardment mass spectrometry: assay of cytidine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate-responsive protein kinase.

A protein kinase, stimulated by cytidine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate, is conventionally assayed by monitoring the incorporation of radiolabelled phosphate from adenosine triphosphate into a histone substrate. Here the assay of the protein kinase is carried out by positive-ion fast-atom bombardment mass spectrometric analysis of the enzyme incubation mixture after the reaction has been terminated. The data so obtained show good agreement with data obtained by the conventional radiometric assay: the intrinsic advantage of the mass spectrometric assay is the capacity for multiple component monitoring; the ability of the kinase to bind competing cyclic nucleotides together with integral adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) and phosphodiesterase activity can also be assessed.

Adenosine Triphosphate

Quantitation by fast-atom bombardment/mass-analysed ion kinetic energy spectrometry: kinetic analysis of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase activity.

Quantitation of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase activity by means of fast-atom bombardment (FAB) mass spectrometry with mass-analysed ion kinetic energy (MIKE) spectrum scanning is described. Characteristic peaks of the substrate, cyclic AMP, and product, AMP, were identified in positive-ion FAB mass spectra and MIKE scans of the protonated molecules. By spiking enzyme incubates with known quantities of cyclic AMP and AMP and measuring peak heights in the MIKE spectra of both spiked and unspiked samples, the concentrations of cyclic AMP and AMP in solution at the end of a series of enzyme incubations have been estimated. From the data obtained the Km and Vmax of the enzymes were calculated as 181 microM and 28.6 nmol/min respectively, showing excellent agreement with values of the Michaelis constant, Km = 205 microM and the maximum velocity Vmax = 33.2 nmol/min obtained by radioactive assay.

3',5'-Cyclic-AMP Phosphodiesterases

Translational energy release and stereochemistry of steroids. 14. Epimeric dihydroxy steroids of the androstane series.

The stereochemistry of dihydroxy steroids, both the mode of the A/B ring junctions and the configuration of OH groups, may be determined from translational energy (T50%) measurements for the loss of a CH.3 radical, from the ratios of metastable-ion peak heights to those of the main beam (determined for the dehydration reactions), and by comparing unimolecular and collision-induced, mass-analysed ion kinetic energy spectra of the new main beam of [M-H2O]+ ions (i.e. those formed via dehydration of metastable molecular ions of epimeric hydroxy steroids in the first field-free region of a double-focusing mass spectrometer.

Androstanes

Tandem mass spectrometry in vitamin E analysis.

Tandem mass spectrometry is applied to the tocopherols and representative tocotrienols of the vitamin E family. The collision-induced dissociation/mass analysed ion kinetic energy spectra generated from three ions in the electron impact ionization spectra of 5,7,8-trimethyltocol, 5,7,8-trimethyltocotrienol, 5,7-, 5,8- and 7,8-dimethyltocol and 7,8-dimethyltocotrienol are described. The technique allowed direct physical characterization of each class of tocochromanol, and in the case of monomethyltocols differentiation of 5-methyltocol from the 7- and 8-methyltocol isomers, and its value in analysis of biological tissue extracts is established.

Chromatography, Thin Layer

Isolation and structural analysis by mass analysed ion kinetic energy spectroscopy of diverse sidechains from steroids of similar tetracyclic carbon skeletons.

The technique of mass analysed ion kinetic energy spectroscopy has been applied to the structural determination of five different substituent sidechains from five steroids of similar ring anatomy. A mass spectrometer of reversed geometry, which permits ion selection according to its mass-to-charge ratio before the ions enter the electric sector, was used to isolate the ion corresponding to the mass of each particular sidechain. Subsequent mass analysed ion kinetic energy spectra of the selected ion demonstrated daughter ions whose compositions were compatible with the structures of the model compounds. This ability to determine the structure of a specific portion of a large molecule and to permit differentiation of minor structural features in a series of compounds, whose major framework is similar, adds a new dimension to the powerful mass analysed ion kinetic energy spectroscopy technique for structural analysis of complex biological molecules.

Chemical Phenomena