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This study documents inhaled delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol transfer into the mother's breast milk. Low concentrations of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol were detected. The long-term neurobehavioral effect of exposure to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol on the developing brain is unclear. Mothers should be cautious using cannabis during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

BackgroundA sensitive, rapid and selective UHPLC–MS/MS method has been developed and validated for the quantification of Nicotine (NT) and Cotinine (CN) using Continine-d 3 as internal standard (IS) as per FDA guidelines. Sample preparation involved simple protein precipitation of 20 µL mouse plasma or brain homogenate using acetonitrile at 1:8 ratio. Mass Spectrometer was operated in positive polarity under the multiple reaction-monitoring mode using electro spray ionization technique and the transitions of m/z 163.2 → 132.1, 177.2 → 98.0 and 180.2 → 101.2 were used to measure the NT, CN and IS, respectively. The elution of NT, CN and IS are at 1.89, 1.77 and 1.76 min, respectively. This was achieved with a gradient mobile phase consisting of 5 mM ammonium bicarbonate, acetonitrile and methanol (3:1, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min on a Kinetex EVO C18 column. The method was validated with a lower limit of quantitation 3.0 ng/mL in mouse plasma and brain for both the analytes.ResultsA linear response function was established for the range of concentrations 3–200 (r > 0.995) for NT and 3–600 ng/mL (r > 0.995) for CN. The intra- and inter-day precision values met the acceptance criteria. NT and CN are stable in the battery of stability studies viz., stock solution, bench-top and auto-sampler.ConclusionThis method was successfully utilized to validate a newly developed preclinical smoking model in mice.

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Background NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) is a two-electron oxidoreductase expressed in multiple tumour types. ARQ 761 is a β-lapachone (β-lap) analogue that exploits the unique elevation of NQO1 found in solid tumours to cause tumour-specific cell death. Methods We performed a 3+3 dose escalation study of 3 schedules (weekly, every other week, 2/3 weeks) of ARQ 761 in patients with refractory advanced solid tumours. Tumour tissue was analysed for NQO1 expression. After 20 patients were analysed, enrolment was restricted to patients with NQO1-high tumours ( H -score ≥ 200). Results A total of 42 patients were treated. Median number of prior lines of therapy was 4. Maximum tolerated dose was 390 mg/m 2 as a 2-h infusion every other week. Dose-limiting toxicity was anaemia. The most common treatment-related adverse events were anaemia (79%), fatigue (45%), hypoxia (33%), nausea (17%), and vomiting (17%). Transient grade 3 hypoxia, reflecting possible methemoglobinaemia, occurred in 26% of patients. Among 32 evaluable patients, best response was stable disease ( n = 12); 6 patients had tumour shrinkage. There was a trend towards improved efficacy in NQO1-high tumours ( P = 0.06). Conclusions ARQ 761 has modest single-agent activity, which appears associated with tumour NQO1 expression. Principal toxicities include anaemia and possible methemoglobinaemia.

A simple, sensitive and specific LC-MS/MS method for the determination of lipoic acid was developed and validated over the linearity range 5-1000 ng/mL (r2 > 0.99) with 200 microL rat plasma using rosigliatzone as an internal standard (IS). The assay procedure involved a simple one-step liquid-liquid extraction of lipoic acid and IS from plasma into ethyl acetate. The organic layer was separated and evaporated under a gentle stream of nitrogen at 40 degrees C. The residue was reconstituted in the mobile phase and injected onto a Hichrom RPB column (4.6 x 250 mm, 5 microm). Separation of lipoic acid and IS was achieved with a mobile phase consisting of 0.05 M formic acid:acetonitrile (40:60, v/v) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The API-3000 LC-MS/MS was operated under the multiple reaction monitoring mode (MRM) using the electrospray ionization technique. Positive and negative ion acquisition within the same chromatographic run was used in the present method. For lipoic acid a pseudo-molecular ion transition pair was acquired in negative polarity, whereas for IS the transition pair was acquired in positive polarity. Quantitation was determined for both analyte and IS in MRM scan mode. Absolute recovery of lipoic acid and IS was >70 and 97%, respectively. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) of lipoic acid was 5.0 ng/mL. The inter- and intra-day precision in the measurement of quality control (QC) samples 5, 15, 400 and 800 ng/mL were in the range 2.18-5.99% relative standard deviation (RSD) and 0.93-13.77% RSD, respectively. Accuracy in the measurement of QC samples was in the range 87.40-114.40% of the nominal values. Analyte and IS were stable in the battery of stability studies, viz. bench-top, auto-sampler and freeze-thaw cycles. Stability of lipoic acid was established for 1 month at -80 degrees C. The application of the assay to a pharmacokinetic study in rats confirmed the utility of the assay.

()-3-((3S,4S)-3-fluoro-4-(4-hydroxyphenyl)piperidin-1-yl)-1-(4-methylbenzyl)pyrrolidin-2-one (BMS-986169) and the phosphate prodrug 4-((3,4)-3-fluoro-1-((R)-1-(4-methylbenzyl)-2-oxopyrrolidin-3-yl)piperidin-4-yl)phenyl dihydrogen phosphate (BMS-986163) were identified from a drug discovery effort focused on the development of novel, intravenous glutamate -methyl-d-aspartate 2B receptor (GluN2B) negative allosteric modulators (NAMs) for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). BMS-986169 showed high binding affinity for the GluN2B subunit allosteric modulatory site (K = 4.03-6.3 nM) and selectively inhibited GluN2B receptor function in Xenopus oocytes expressing human -methyl-d-aspartate receptor subtypes (IC = 24.1 nM). BMS-986169 weakly inhibited human ether-a-go-go-related gene channel activity (IC = 28.4 M) and had negligible activity in an assay panel containing 40 additional pharmacological targets. Intravenous administration of BMS-986169 or BMS-986163 dose-dependently increased GluN2B receptor occupancy and inhibited in vivo [3H](+)-5-methyl-10,11-dihydro-5H-dibenzo[]cyclohepten-5,10-imine ([3H]MK-801) binding, confirming target engagement and effective cleavage of the prodrug. BMS-986169 reduced immobility in the mouse forced swim test, an effect similar to intravenous ketamine treatment. Decreased novelty suppressed feeding latency, and increased ex vivo hippocampal long-term potentiation was also seen 24 hours after acute BMS-986163 or BMS-986169 administration. BMS-986169 did not produce ketamine-like hyperlocomotion or abnormal behaviors in mice or cynomolgus monkeys but did produce a transient working memory impairment in monkeys that was closely related to plasma exposure. Finally, BMS-986163 produced robust changes in the quantitative electroencephalogram power band distribution, a translational measure that can be used to assess pharmacodynamic activity in healthy humans. Due to the poor aqueous solubility of BMS-986169, BMS-986163 was selected as the lead GluN2B NAM candidate for further evaluation as a novel intravenous agent for TRD.

A high-throughput, simple, highly sensitive and specific LC-MS/MS method (liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry) has been developed for the estimation of rosuvastatin (CAS 287714-41-4, RST) with 100 microl human plasma using atorvastatin (CAS 134523-00-5) as an internal standard (IS). The API-4000 LC-MS/MS was operated under the multiple reaction-monitoring mode (MRM) using the electro spray ionization technique. The assay procedure involved direct precipitation of RST and IS from plasma with acetonitrile. Sample preparation with this method yielded clean extracts and consistent recoveries: 91.39% for RST and 99.28% for IS. The total chromatographic run time was 3.5 min and the elution of RST and IS occurred at 2.5 and 3.1 min, respectively; this was achieved with a mobile phase consisting of 0.05 mol/L formic acid: acetonitrile (20:80, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.50 ml/min on an Inertsil ODS-3 column (4.6 x 100 mm, 3.0 microm). The developed method was validated in human plasma with a limit of quantitation of 0.05 ng/ml. A linear response function was established for the range of concentrations of 0.05 to 50.0 ng/ml with a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.999. The inter- and intra-day precision in the measurement of RST quality control (QC) samples at 0.05, 0.15, 25 and 40 ng/ml were in the range of 6.55 to 11.40% relative standard deviation (RSD) and 1.76 to 11.17% RSD, respectively. Accuracy in the measurement of QC samples for RST was in the range of 95.02 to 101.37% of the nominal values. RST was stable in the battery of stability studies viz., bench-top, auto-sampler and freeze-thaw cycles. The stability of RST was established for 1 month at -80 degrees C. The application of the assay to a clinical study confirmed the utility of the assay to derive human pharmacokinetic parameters.