Reactive carbonyl species (RCS) are endogenous or exogenous byproducts involved in the pathogenic mechanisms of different oxidative-based disorders. Detoxification of RCS by carbonyl quenchers is a promising therapeutic strategy. Among the most studied quenchers are aminoguanidine, hydralazine, pyridoxamine, and carnosine; their quenching activity towards four RCS (4-hydroxy-trans-2-nonenal, methylglyoxal, glyoxal, and malondialdehyde) was herein analyzed and compared. Their ability to prevent protein carbonylation was evaluated in vitro by using an innovative method based on high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). The reactivity of the compounds was RCS dependent: carnosine efficiently quenched 4-hydroxy-trans-2-nonenal, pyridoxamine was particularly active towards malondialdehyde, aminoguanidine was active towards methylglyoxal and glyoxal, and hydralazine efficiently quenched all RCS. Reaction products were generated in vitro and were characterized by HRMS. Molecular modeling studies revealed that the reactivity was controlled by specific stereoelectronic parameters that could be used for the rational design of improved carbonyl quenchers.

Reactive carbonyl species (RCS) and the corresponding protein adducts (advanced glycoxidation or lipoxidation end products, i.e. AGEs and ALEs) are now widely studied from different points of view, since they can be considered as biomarkers, pathogenic factors, toxic mediators and drug targets. One of the main limits of the research in this field is the lack of standardized and fully characterized AGEs and ALEs to be used for biological, toxicological, and analytical studies. In this work, we set up a procedure to prepare and fully characterize a set of AGEs and ALEs by incubating ubiquitin - a model protein selected as target for carbonylation - with four different RCS: 4-hydroxy-trans-2-nonenal (HNE), methylglyoxal (MGO), glyoxal (GO), and malondialdehyde (MDA). After 24 h of incubation, the extent of protein carbonylation was estimated using a recently developed quantitative strategy based on high-resolution mass spectrometry. The resulting AGEs and ALEs were fully characterized by both intact protein and bottom-up analyses in terms of: stoichiometry of the total amount of modified protein, elucidation of the structure of the RCS-deriving adducts, and localization of the RCS-modified amino acids. Each RCS exhibited different reactivity toward ubiquitin, as detected by quantifying the extent of protein modification. The order of reactivity was MGO > GO > HNE > MDA. A variety of reaction products was identified and mapped on lysine, arginine, and histidine residues of the protein. In summary, a highly standardized and reproducible method to prepare fully characterized AGEs/ALEs is here presented.