Scintillation Counting Assay

In the carbon-14 expts, HMX/RDX product was isolated qualitatively, separated Into its components, and each component assayed for carbon-14 beta radioactivity using a liquid scintillation counting technique (Ref 11). DPT-l4C was isolated as an intermediate product from the reaction mixt and similarly radioassayed. For the nitrogen-15 tagged AN expts, HMX and RDX were assayed mass spectrometrically for i5N/i4N ratios from which atom %1SN contents were calcd. In die course of these expts, each tagged species was added initially and also at subsequent stages of the reaction process. The important observations and results are summarized as ... 

Membranes (50 pi in a total assay volume of 100 pi) were incubated with UDP-Gal (0.1 mM) and MgSO (10 mM) in 25 mM Tris-HCl buffer pH 7.5, for 10 or 60 min. Reactions were stopped by heating at 100°C for 3 min. Lupin galactan (0.1 mg) was added as a 0.1% solution, methanol was added to give a final concentration of 70% by volume, and the tubes were capped, heated at 70°C for 5 min and centrifuged (13000g 5 min). Supernatants were discarded or retained for analysis. Pellets were washed twice more with 70% methanol at 70 C and the supernatants were discarded. The final pellets were either dissolved in preparation for scintillation counting, or were suspended in water and freeze dried in preparation for analysis. 

The metabolic and pharmacokinetic profile of sucralose (this is a novel intense sweetener with a potency about 600 times that of sucrose) in human volunteers was studied by Roberts and coworkers [82]. Part of this study was realized using PLC in the following chromatographic system in which the stationary phase was silica gel and the mobile phase was ethyl acetate-methanol-water-concentrated ammonia (60 20 10 2, v/v). Separated substances were scraped off separately, suspended in methanol, and analyzed by filtration, scintillation counting, or enzymatic assay. It was shown that the characteristics of sucralose include poor absorption, rapid elimination, limited conjugative metabolism of the fraction absorbed, and lack of bio-accumulative potential. 

Guilmette RA, Bay AS. 1981. Radio assays of americium or curium in biological material by isoctyl acid phosphate solvent extraction and a liquid scintillation counting. Anal Chem 53 2351-2354. 

Various analytical techniques have been employed to determine the drug content in nanoparticles after the separation procedures. High performance liquid chromatography and UV/vis spectroscopy are two of the most extensively used techniques [133], Other techniques used include scintillation counting [186], spectrofluorodensitometry [176], microbiological assays [136], spectrofluorimetry [187], and polarization fluoroimmunanalysis [67],... 

The initial mixture and each time point are then assayed for doxorubicin and lipid. Lipid concentrations can be quantified by the phosphate assay (see above) or by liquid scintillation counting of an appropriate radiolabel. Doxorubicin is quantified by an absorbance assay (see below). The percent uptake at any time point (e.g., t = 30 minutes) is determined by %-uptake = [(D/L), =30minutes] x 100/[(D/L) inuiai]. Doxorubicin can be assayed by both a fluorescence assay and an absorbance assay, but we find the latter to be more accurate. The standard curve consists of four to five cuvettes containing 0 to 150 nmol doxorubicin in a volume of 0.1 mL samples to be assayed are of the same volume. To each tube is added 0.9 mL of 1% (v/v) Triton X-100 (in water) solution. For saturated lipid systems such as DSPC/Chol, the tubes should be heated in a boiling water bath for 10 to 15 seconds, until the detergent turns cloudy. Samples are allowed to cool, and absorbance is read at 480 nm on a UV/Visible spectrophotometer. 

The initial mixture and each time point are then assayed for ciprofloxacin and lipid. Lipid can be quantified using the phosphate assay (64,65) or by liquid scintillation counting. Ciprofloxacin is quantified by an absorbance assay following removal of drug from lipid by a Bligh-Dyer extraction procedure (78) (see below). The percent uptake is determined as described in the section Remote Loading of Doxorubicin into DSPC/Cholesterol (55 45) Large Unilamellar Vesicle. ... 

For Ptdins 4 kinase and Ptdins (4) P5 kinase activities, the assay can be modified with assay buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.2 10mM MgCh 1 mM DTT 0.4% Triton X-100), 0.5 mM of substrate Ptdins or PtdIns4P, and 1 (xCi [y- P]-ATP. Terminate the reaction with 0.6 mL chloroformimethanol (1 1, v/v). After addition of 0.5mL 12N HCl, phosphoinosi-tides are extracted into the lower chloroform phase, which are washed with 1 mL methanoLlM HCl (1 1, v/v) followed by 1 mL methanoLO.l mol/L HCl (1 1, v/v). The radioactive reaction product can be isolated by TLC and quantified by liquid scintillation counting. 

A variety of assays have been developed to quantify phagocytic activity. These include direct microscopic visualization (2,3), spectrophotometric evaluation of phagocytized paraffin droplets containing dye (4), scintillation counting of radiolabeled bacteria (5), fluorometric (6), and flow cytometric analysis of fluorescent particles (7-13). The flow cytometric assay offers the advantage of rapid analysis of thousands of cells and quantification of the internalized particle density for each analyzed cell. The assay may be performed with purified leukocyte preparations (7-13) or anficoagulated whole blood (14,15). 

The reliability of the SPE-LC-ESI-MS/MS quantitation method of the nonbound marker spiperone was verified in identical binding assays employing [ H] spiperone as marker and (S)-sulpiride as test compound, again quantifying the nonbound marker but this time by scintillation counting. Both the run of the competition curve and the Ki value determined for (S)-sulpiride were in good accordance with the results from the MS binding assays (Table 7.2). 

Traditionally, HAT activity is measured with a discontinuous radioactive filterbinding assay, which uses pH]acetyl-CoA as a histone acetyltransferase substrate [46]. The transfer of [ H]acetyl-groups to the histone substrate by histone acetyltransferases is detected by liquid scintillation counting of pHjacetylated histones, which are retained on a phosphocellulose disk. Due to its discontinuous character, this assay is technically problematic and not ideal for kinetic analysis. Hence, other assays that work with radiolabeled acetyl-CoA have been described that are suitable for a higher throughput. These work with streptavidin-covered beads [47] or a variant of the SPA with microtiter plates that contain a scintillant (FlashPlates) [48]. But as all these protocols are based on radioactively labeled substrates, they apparently show the same disadvantages that were described for the radioactive HDAC assay protocols. Therefore, nonradioactive assays have been developed to study histone acetyltransferase activity. 

Commonly, in vitro determination of HDAC activity is a manual assay utilizing a coupled two-step process, including enzymatic deacetylation of a substrate followed by reaction termination and readout [10]. Assays utilize nuclear extracts and substrates containing labeled (radioactive or fluorescent) acetylated histones. For the isotope-based assays, the enzymes are incubated with acetate-radiolabled histones prepared from chicken reticulocytes or chemically [ Hjacetylated peptide substrates, and the enzymatic activity is determined by liquid scintillation counting [11]. Alternatively, histones may be obtained from cells following treatment with [ H]acetyl-CoA [12]. The caveats of these approaches include the variability of prelabeled acetylated core histones within preparations, potential high costs, their labor-intensive nature and the presence of radioactive waste. 

Because specific activity is always an intensive variable, one need not recover all of the sample to determine the ratio mol A /mol A. To evaluate SAa, one need only obtain an amount that provides an accurate measurement of A and total A. The former is easily achieved by liquid scintillation counting, and spectrophotometry or some other enzymatic assay usually allows accurate determination of mol A in a sample. 

Scintillation proximity assay (SPA) is a variety, or part, of RIA. This method is based on the measurement of the scintillation of radioactive molecules. On the basis of the power of the scintillation, it is possible to determine the amount of radioactivity. Then, it is possible to count the alkaloid content. This method was used recently in the biosynthesis of communesin alkaloids . ... 

Table 4.6.11 Mixtures for liquid scintillation counting of amylo-1,6-glucosidase (debranching enzyme assay with [14C]-glucose) for liver and muscle, and for RBC...

The LPL catalytic assay measures the hydrolysis of a [14C[- or [3H]-triolein emulsion producing the 14C- or 3H -labeled free oleic acid [6]. The 14C- or 3H-labeled oleic acid is isolated by a selective extraction procedure and its radioactivity is determined by liquid scintillation counting [40]. Lipase activity is calculated as nanomoles of oleic acid released per minute per milliliter of postheparin plasma [41]. 

Human skin fibroblasts are cultured from skin biopsy samples. The dermis is cut into small pieces (0.5 mm on each side) and placed into a dish in DMEM containing 10% (v/v) FCS and 1% (v/v) antibiotic-antimycotic solution. When these primary cultures are confluent they are split and cells between passage three and six are used for experiments. For the cholesterol efflux assay, cells are grown in 24-well plates to 60-80% confluence and are labeled with [1,2-3H]-cholesterol (1 pCi/well) for 24 h. Cells are then washed with DMEM and incubated for 4 h at 37°C with DMEM containing BSA (0.2%, v/v) and either 0 (negative control) or 5-30 pg/ml apoA-I. The efflux medium is collected and centrifuged to remove cell debris. Cells are solubilized in 0.1 mol/1 NaOH and the radioactivity in the efflux media and in the cell lysates is determined by scintillation counting [11, 30, 75]. 

The activity of dihydropyrimidinase or /J-urcidopropionasc can only be measured in liver or kidney. The activity of dihydropyrimidinase is determined using a radiochemical assay with subsequent separation of radiolabeled dihydrouracil from radiolabeled N-carbamyl-/>-alanine with reverse-phase HPLC combined with detection of 14C02by liquid scintillation counting [11]. The activity of /1-ureidopropionase can be determined using radiolabeled N-carbamyl-/l-alanine followed by separation of radiolabeled N-carbamyl-/>-alanine from radiolabeled /1-alanine by reverse-phase HPLC [10,14]. 

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