Acetohexamide is a drug used to treat type II diabetes and is tightly bound to the protein human serum albumin (HSA) in the circulation. It has been proposed that the binding of some drugs with HSA can be affected by the non-enzymatic glycation of this protein. This study used highperformance affinity chromatography to examine the changes in acetohexamide-HSA binding that take place as the glycation of HSA is increased. It was found in frontal analysis experiments that the binding of acetohexamide to glycated HSA could be described by a two-site model involving both strong and weak affinity interactions. The average association equilibrium constant (K a ) for the high affinity interactions was in the range of 1.2-2.0 × 10 5 M −1 and increased in moving from normal to HSA with glycation levels that might be found in advanced diabetes. It was found through competition studies that acetohexamide was binding at both Sudlow sites I and II on the glycated HSA. The K a for acetohexamide at Sudlow site I increased by 40% in going from normal HSA to minimally glycated HSA but then decreased back to near-normal values in going to more highly glycated HSA. At Sudlow site II, the K a for acetohexamide first decreased by about 40% and then increased in going from normal HSA to minimally glycated HSA and more highly glycated HSA. This information demonstrates the importance of conducting both frontal analysis and site-specific binding studies in examining the effects of glycation on the interactions of a drug with HSA.

The binding of drugs with proteins in blood, serum or plasma is an important process in determining the activity, distribution, rate of excretion, and toxicity of drugs in the body. Highperformance affinity chromatography (HPAC) has received a great deal of interest as a means for studying these interactions. This review examines the various techniques that have been used in HPAC to examine drug-protein binding and discusses the types of information that can be obtained through this approach. A comparison of these techniques with traditional methods for binding studies (e.g., equilibrium dialysis and ultrafiltration) will also be presented. The use of HPAC with specific serum proteins and binding agents will then be discussed, including human serum albumin and α 1 -acid glycoprotein. Several examples from the literature are provided to illustrate the applications of such research. Recent developments in this field are also described, such as the use of improved immobilization techniques, new data analysis methods, techniques for working for directly with complex biological samples, and work with immobilized lipoproteins. The relative advantages and limitations of the methods that are described will be considered and the possible use of these techniques in the high-throughput screening or characterization of drugprotein binding will be discussed.

The binding of drugs with serum proteins can affect the activity, distribution, rate of excretion, and toxicity of pharmaceutical agents in the body. One tool that can be used to quickly analyze and characterize these interactions is high-performance affinity chromatography (HPAC). This review shows how HPAC can be used to study drug-protein binding and describes the various applications of this approach when examining drug interactions with serum proteins. Methods for determining binding constants, characterizing binding sites, examining drug-drug interactions, and studying drug-protein dissociation rates will be discussed. Applications that illustrate the use of HPAC with serum binding agents such as human serum albumin, α1-acid glycoprotein, and lipoproteins will be presented. Recent developments will also be examined, such as new methods for immobilizing serum proteins in HPAC columns, the utilization of HPAC as a tool in personalized medicine, and HPAC methods for the high-throughput screening and characterization of drug-protein binding.

A method is described for the entrapment of proteins in hydrazide-activated supports using oxidized glycogen as a capping agent. This approach is demonstrated using human serum albumin (HSA) as a model binding agent. After optimization of this method, a protein content of 43 (± 1) mg HSA/g support was obtained for porous silica. The entrapped HSA supports could retain a low mass drug (S-warfarin) and had activities and equilibrium constants comparable to those for soluble HSA. It was also found that this approach could be used with other proteins and binding agents that had masses between 5.8 and 150 kDa. KeywordsImmobilization methods; Entrapment; High-performance affinity chromatography; Drug-protein binding; Frontal analysis; Human serum albumin; Glycogen Affinity chromatography uses a biologically-related binding agent as a stationary phase to undergo specific interactions with a target analyte (1-3). The selectivity of this approach is dependent on the way in which the binding agent is attached to the support (4). It is common for a binding agent such as a protein to be covalently immobilized through amine, sulfhydryl, carboxyl or carbonyl groups (4-6). However, covalent immobilization can produce multisite attachment or improper orientation of the binding agent, which may cause an apparent change in this agent's activity. These issues can be minimized in some cases by coupling the binding agent to the support through functional groups that occur in only a few locations in its structure, such as the use of the carbohydrate chains in antibodies or α 1 -acid glycoprotein (AGP) for their site-selective attachment to hydrazide-activated supports (4,6).Another approach to avoid these immobilization effects is to use the physical entrapment (or encapsulation) of the binding agent within a support. This approach has been of interest for many years in work with materials such as sol gels and has generally been based on the physical containment of binding agents in a highly cross-linked polymer network (7-9). However, past approaches have used materials with pressure or flow rate restrictions that are not easily amenable for use with HPLC. Also, a general entrapment approach is still needed that can be used with common HPLC supports such as porous silica. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. NIH Public Access NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptThis report used the entrapment method shown in Figure 1(a), as based on the use of a hydrazide-activated support and oxidized glycogen (~2.5 × 10 5 kDa) as a capping agent. The ...

Protein entrapment and high-performance affinity chromatography were used with zonal elution to examine the changes in binding that occurred for site-specific probes and various sulfonylurea drugs with normal and glycated forms of human serum albumin (HSA). Samples of this protein in a soluble form were physically entrapped within porous silica particles by using glycogen-capped hydrazide-activated silica; these supports were then placed into 1.0 cm × 2.1 mm inner diameter columns. Initial zonal elution studies were performed using (R)-warfarin and L-tryptophan as probes for Sudlow sites I and II (i.e., the major drug binding sites of HSA), giving quantitative measures of binding affinities in good agreement with literature values. It was also found for solutes with multisite binding to the same proteins, such as many sulfonylurea drugs, that this method could be used to estimate the global affinity of the solute for the entrapped protein. This entrapment and zonal approach provided retention information with precisions of ±0.1–3.3% (± one standard deviation) and elution within 0.50–3.00 min for solutes with binding affinities of 1 × 104–3 × 105 M−1. Each entrapped-protein column was used for many binding studies, which decreased the cost and amount of protein needed per injection (e.g., the equivalent of only 125–145 pmol of immobilized HSA or glycated HSA per injection over 60 sample application cycles). This method can be adapted for use with other proteins and solutes and should be valuable in high-throughput screening or quantitative studies of drug–protein binding or related biointeractions.