Lung surfactant secretion involves lamellar body docking and fusion with the plasma membrane in alveolar type II cells. Annexin A7 (A7) is postulated to play a role in membrane fusion during exocytosis. Our recent studies demonstrated increased co-localization of A7 with ABCA3 in lamellar bodies in type II cells stimulated with established secretagogues of lung surfactant. In this study, we investigated in vivo and in vitro interactions of A7 with the t-SNARE protein, SNAP23. Immuno-fluorescence studies showed time-dependent increases in co-localization of A7 with SNAP23 in PMA- and in A23187-stimulated cells. PMA and A23187 also caused a time-dependent increase in co-localization of ABCA3 with SNAP23. The relocation of A7 to SNAP23 domains was inhibited in the presence of PKC inhibitor, similar to that previously reported for co-localization of A7 with ABCA3. The interaction of A7 and SNAP23 was confirmed by affinity binding and by in vitro interaction of recombinant A7 and SNAP23 proteins. The in vitro binding of recombinant A7 (rA7) to GST-SNAP23 fusion protein was calcium-dependent. Phosphorylation of rA7 with PKC increased its in vitro binding to SNAP23 suggesting that a similar mechanism may operate during A7 relocation to t-SNARE domains. Thus, our studies demonstrate that annexin A7 may function in co-ordination with SNARE proteins and that protein kinase activation may be required for annexin A7 trafficking to the interacting membranes (lamellar bodies and plasma membrane) to facilitate membrane fusion during surfactant secretion.

A role for annexin A7 (A7) is postulated in the obligatory fusion between lamellar bodies and the plasma membrane during surfactant secretion in alveolar type II cells. This study investigated if surfactant secretagogues increase cell surface A7, which could support A7 insertion into plasma membrane as annexin proteins reportedly lack membrane penetration ability. In vivo trafficking of A7 to cell surface was determined by immuno-staining after non-permeabilizing fixation of alveolar type II cells. Stimulation with various secretagogues increased protein kinase-dependent staining for A7 and ABCA3 in comparison to control cells. Biotin-labeling of surface proteins showed ~4% of total A7 in control cells, which increased ~3 – 4 folds in stimulated type II cells. Increased cell surface A7 was also observed by protein cross-linking studies showing ~70 kDa A7-adduct in the membranes but not in the cytosol fraction of PMA- or A23187-stimulated cells. In vitro phosphorylation increased the Ca2+-dependent binding of recombinant A7 to lung plasma membranes; and subsequent cross-linking showed increased levels of ~70 kDa A7-adduct. PMA-stimulation of type II cells increased A7 trafficking to lipid rafts suggesting that the latter are involved in A7 trafficking to the cell surface. However, in vitro membrane insertion of recombinant A7 and its tryptophan mutants as determined by fluorescence quenching with doxylPC suggested only shallow membrane insertion by A7. Together, our studies support in vivo association between surfactant secretion and cell surface A7 occurring by insertion into plasma membrane and by fusion of A7 containing lamellar bodies.

A new and enantioselective liquid chromatographic method was developed for estimation of S-Linagliptin in Linagliptin (LINA) drug substances. The desired enantiomeric separation was achieved on Chiralpak AD-H (250 * 4.6 mm * 5 µm) column with the mobile phase composition of ethanol, methanol and diethylamine in a ratio of 90:10:0.1 (v/v/v) with flow rate of 0.5 mL•min −1 and column oven temperature 30˚C and the eluted compounds were monitored at 225 nm. In the proposed chiral method, USP resolutions between both the enantiomers were more than 5.0. Limit of detection and Limit of quantitation of S-LINA was found to be 0.03 µg•mL −1 and 0.10 µg•mL −1 respectively. Linearity study was conducted from LOQ to 150% and correlation coefficient found to be 0.9997. Accuracy was within the range of 98.6% to 101.5%. To prove selectivity power of the method specificity study was conducted by subjecting drug substance to acid, base, hydrolysis, oxidation and photolysis and ensured the peak purity of analyte in degraded samples. Moreover, the method has been fully validated as per ICH guidelines. The proposed method is precise, accurate, linear, rugged, robust and suitable for accurate quantification of S-LINA in LINA drug substance.

The aim of this study was to develop a simple and derivatization free method for the Quantification of S-Epichlorohydrin in R-Epichlorohydrin by using a gas chromatography coupled with flame ionization detector (FID). Enantiopure epichlorohydrin was a valuable epoxide key starting material for preparing optically active Rivaroxaban. The enantiomeric separations of S-Epichlorohydrin and R-Epichlorohydrin were achieved on Gamaa-Dex-225 (30 meters × 0.25 mm I.D, 0.25 µm) column with a total run time of 30 min. Nitrogen was used as a carrier gas with constant pressure 25.0 psi. The critical experimental parameters such as, column selection, flow rate, injection volume and diluent were studied and optimized. Excellent correlation coeffient between peak responses and concentrations was >0.9998. The recoveries of S-Epichlorohydrin spiked in R-Epichlorohydrin were in the range from 98.2% to 102.8%. Limit of quantitation for S-Epichlorohydrin was sufficiently lower than limits specified by ICH. The method has validated as per International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines. A precise, accurate, linear and robust Gas Chromatography method was developed for the quantification of S-Epichlorohydrin in R-Epichlorohydrin for Rivaroxaban.

We have previously postulated that annexin A7 (A7) facilitates the obligatory membrane fusion between lamellar bodies and plasma membrane during surfactant secretion in alveolar type II (T2) cells. Recently, we reported that several secretagogues of lung surfactant promote protein kinase‐dependent co‐localization of A7 with the lamellar body marker protein ABCA3 in T2 cells. We now report that secretagogues also promote association of A7 with SNAP23, one of the SNARE proteins. Confocal immuno‐fluorescence microscopy of T2 cells showed a time‐dependent increase in co‐localization of A7 and SNAP23 in T2 cells stimulated with PMA or calcium ionophore A23187. The increased co‐localization was prevented by pre‐treatment of T2 cells with PKC inhibitor, BisI. Supporting evidence for interactions of A7 and SNAP23 was derived from in vitro binding studies. The binding of bacterially expressed A7 with GST‐SNAP23 was Ca2+‐dependent. The binding was observed at 0.2μM Ca2+, which increased further in Ca2+ concentration‐dependent manner. Thus, physiologic conditions causing calcium elevation would increase interaction of A7 with SNAP23. In vitro phosphorylation of A7 with PKC also increased the Ca2+‐dependent binding to GST‐SNAP23. We conclude that calcium elevation and increased protein phosphorylation that occur in secretagogue‐stimulated T2 cells would facilitate A7 interactions with SNAP23 during surfactant secretion. We speculate that A7 phosphorylation and association with lamellar bodies and SNARE proteins is to facilitate the membrane fusion process.