Human butyrylcholinesterase is a serine hydrolase that reacts with organophosphorus compounds (OP) to form stable adducts. These adducts are valuable biomarkers for OP exposure and can be analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) after a preliminary digestion step in solution. However, this digestion step is time-consuming and cannot be directly coupled with LC-MS set ups. Therefore, the aim of this work was to develop pepsin-based immobilized enzyme microreactors (IMERs) for the rapid digestion of human butyrylcholinesterase (HuBuChE). Various IMERs were synthesized by grafting different amounts of pepsin on a CNBr-sepharose gel and the grafting yield was measured by a bicinchoninic acid assay (BCA). A sensitive nanoLC-MS/MS method was developed to evaluate the digestion yields of HuBuChE on IMERs which was made possible by a synthetic peptide which was used as a calibrant. The digestion was optimized by studying the impact of different parameters such as the digestion time, the temperature and the amount of pepsin grafted on IMER. This optimization allowed HuBuChE to be digested with-in 20min without pretreatment and with digestion yields up to 20%. The repeatability of the IMER synthesis and HuBuChE digestion was highlighted with the characterization of 3 similar IMERs. Finally, the digestion yields of HuBuChE were higher with IMERs when compared to a typical in solution digestion.
Organophosphorus nerve agent (OPNA) adducts formed with human butyrylcholinesterase (HuBuChE) can be used as biomarker of OPNA exposure. Indeed, intoxication by OPNAs can be confirmed by the LC/MS analysis of a specific HuBuChE nonapeptide on which OPNAs covalently bind. A fast, selective, and highly sensitive online method was developed to detect sarin and soman adducts in plasma, including immunoextraction by anti-HuBuChE antibodies, pepsin digestion on immobilized enzyme reactors (IMER), and microLC/MS analysis of the OPNA adducts. The potential of three different monoclonal antibodies, covalently grafted on sepharose, was compared for the extraction of HuBuChE. The online method developed with the most promising antibodies allowed the extraction of up to 100% of HuBuChE contained in plasma and the digestion of 45% of it in less than 40 min. Moreover, OPNA-HuBuChE adducts, aged OPNA adducts, and unadducted HuBuChE could be detected (with S/N > 2000), even in plasma spiked with a low concentration of OPNA (10 ng mL). Finally, the potential of this method was compared to approaches involving other affinity sorbents, already described for HuBuChE extraction. Graphical abstract Online coupling of immunoextraction, digestion, and microliquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for the analysis of organophosphorous nerve agent adducts formed with human butyrylcholinesterase.
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