Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1224758 Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis 2006 6 Pages PDF
Abstract

The developments of bio-analytical methods for analyzing bioactive peptides are of paramount importance. Neuropeptides and their bioactive fragments play a vital role in the regulation of many biological processes and diseases. This paper presents the use of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) method for monitoring neuropeptides along with their degradation products in plasma samples from cancer patients. The neuropeptides focused in this study were β-endrophin, substance P, and bradykinin. The method involves the enzyme digestion of the neuroactive peptides followed by MALDI-MS sample preparation and subsequent acquisition of the MS spectral data. The mass spectral profile identifies most of the C-terminal and N-terminal peptides, and the mass accuracy was in the range of −1.68 to 1.46 Da with the mass spectrometer utilised. Analysis of the neuropeptide degradation patterns from the cancer patients were compared with the controls showed similar results. The study reveals that this approach can be used to identify the enzymatic digestion products of protein.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Chemistry Analytical Chemistry
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