molecules-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Mass Spectrometry: Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis in Pharmaceutical Research

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Analytical Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2024 | Viewed by 3815

Special Issue Editors

Division of Pharmaceutics and Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy & Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Interests: pharmacology; liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry; high-resolution mass spectrometry; bioanalysis; pharmacokinetics; bioactive compounds

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Interests: liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry; high-resolution mass spectrometry; affinity selection-mass spectrometry; medicinal chemistry; drug discovery and development; bioactive compounds

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Mass spectrometry (MS) is now recognized as a standard bioanalytical technique with a wide range of applications in both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Due to its high sensitivity, specificity, and capability to provide faster results and rapid clinical feedback when coupled with other techniques, MS-based techniques are widely utilized in pharmaceutical research to elucidate the underlying pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and toxicity in various analytes, including new molecular entities, natural products, impurities, metabolites, and biomarkers.

This Special Issue of Molecules aims to update research trends in utilizing MS as a vital tool for both preclinical and clinical bioanalysis. We invite experts from the field to submit their original research work and reviews focusing on the development and application of quantitative and qualitative analysis MS methods.

Dr. Yan Jin
Prof. Dr. Lei Fu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

13 pages, 3163 KiB  
Article
Study on Pharmacokinetics and Metabolic Profiles of Novel Potential PLK-1 Inhibitors by UHPLC-MS/MS Combined with UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap/HRMS
by Lin Wang, Hui Lei, Jing Lu, Wenyan Wang, Chunjiao Liu, Yunjie Wang, Yifei Yang, Jingwei Tian and Jianzhao Zhang
Molecules 2023, 28(6), 2550; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28062550 - 10 Mar 2023
Viewed by 1498
Abstract
PLK-1 (Polo-like kinase-1) plays an essential role in cytokinesis, and its aberrant expression is considered to be keenly associated with a wide range of cancers. It has been selected as an appealing target and small-molecule inhibitors have been developed and studied in clinical [...] Read more.
PLK-1 (Polo-like kinase-1) plays an essential role in cytokinesis, and its aberrant expression is considered to be keenly associated with a wide range of cancers. It has been selected as an appealing target and small-molecule inhibitors have been developed and studied in clinical trials. Unfortunately, most have been declared as failures due to the poor therapeutic response and off-target toxicity. In the present study, a novel potent PLK-1 inhibitor, compound 7a, was designed and synthetized. 1H NMR, 13C NMR, 19F NMR and mass spectrum were comprehensively used for the compound characterization. The compound exhibited higher potency against PLK-1 kinase, HCT-116 and NCI-H2030 cell lines than the positive control. Molecular docking indicated that the binding mode that the ATP binding site of PLK-1 was occupied by the compound. Then, a UHPLC-MS/MS method was established and validated to explore the pharmacokinetic behavior of the drug candidate. The method had good selectivity, high sensitivity and wide linearity. The exposure increased linearly with the dose, but the oral bioavailability was not satisfactory enough. Then, the metabolism was studied using liver microsomes by UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap/HRMS. Our research first studied the pharmacokinetic metabolic characteristics of 7a and may serve as a novel lead compound for the development of PLK-1 inhibitors. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 2157 KiB  
Article
Use of MALDI-TOF MS to Discriminate between Aflatoxin B1-Producing and Non-Producing Strains of Aspergillus flavus
by Lukas Hleba, Miroslava Hlebova, Anton Kovacik, Jana Petrova, Zuzana Maskova, Juraj Cubon and Peter Massanyi
Molecules 2022, 27(22), 7861; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27227861 - 14 Nov 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1660
Abstract
Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is one of the most toxic mycotoxins. One of the producers of AFB1 is Aspergillus flavus. Therefore, its rapid identification plays a key role in various sectors of the food and feed industry. MALDI-TOF mass [...] Read more.
Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is one of the most toxic mycotoxins. One of the producers of AFB1 is Aspergillus flavus. Therefore, its rapid identification plays a key role in various sectors of the food and feed industry. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry is one of the fastest and most accurate methods today. Therefore, the aim of this research was to develop the rapid identification of producing and non-producing strains of A. flavus based on the entire mass spectrum. To accomplish the main goal a different confirmatory MALDI-TOF MS and TLC procedures such as direct AFB1 identification by scraping from TLC plates, A. flavus mycelium, nutrient media around A. flavus growth, and finally direct AFB1 identification from infected wheat and barley grains had to be conducted. In this experiment, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry with various modifications was the main supporting technology. All confirmatory methods confirmed the presence of AFB1 in the samples of aflatoxin-producing strains of A. flavus and vice versa; AFB1 was not detected in the case of non-producing strains. Entire mass spectra (from 2 to 20 kDa) of aflatoxin-producing and non-producing A. flavus strains were collected, statistically analyzed and clustered. An in-depth analysis of the obtained entire mass spectra showed differences between AFB1-producing and non-producing strains of A. flavus. Statistical and cluster analysis divided AFB1-producing and non-producing strains of A. flavus into two monasteries. The results indicate that it is possible to distinguish between AFB1 producers and non-producers by comparing the entire mass spectra using MALDI-TOF MS. Finally, we demonstrated that if there are established local AFB1-producing and non-producing strains of A. flavus, the entire mass spectrum database identification of aflatoxigenic A. flavus strains can be even faster and cheaper, without the need to identify the toxin itself. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop