PubMed · 3337356
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G S Sklar, D D Sonn. 1988. Silent gene recognition.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3337356/
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In humans, the plasma enzyme butyrylcholinesterase, BChE (EC 3.1.1.8), mediates the in vivo plasma hydrolysis of cocaine to the pharmacologically inactive metabolite ecgonine methyl ester, EME. This enzyme has been purified from human plasma to investigate the potential as a treatment for cocaine intoxication. Cocaine (2.1 micrograms mL-1) was incubated in plasma with a BChE concentration in the normal range (3.02 micrograms mL-1) and in plasma with enhanced BChE concentrations of 9.14, 20.8 and 37.8 micrograms mL-1, respectively for time periods up to 120 min. Cocaine and the hydrolytic products, ecgonine methyl ester and ecgonine, were quantified simultaneously by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The enhancement of plasma BChE concentration resulted in a dramatic increase in the rate of hydrolysis of cocaine. There was a stoichimetric conversion of cocaine to the inactive hydrolysis product, ecgonine methyl ester. Accordingly, the half-life of cocaine in plasma decreased significantly with enhanced BChE concentration. At plasma BChE concentrations of 3.02, 9.14, 20.8 and 37.8 micrograms mL-1, half-life values of 116, 35.8, 21.4 and 9.0 min, respectively were observed. The marked reduction in cocaine half-life provides evidence supporting the potential therapeutic use of BChE for the treatment of cocaine intoxication.
A convenient and rapid micro-anion exchange liquid chromatography (LC) tandem electrospray mass spectrometry (MS) procedure was developed for quantitative analysis in serum of O-isopropyl methylphosphonic acid (IMPA), the hydrolysis product of the nerve agent sarin. The mass spectrometric procedure involves negative or positive ion electrospray ionization and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) detection. The method could be successfully applied to the analysis of serum samples from victims of the Tokyo subway attack and of an earlier incident at Matsumoto, Japan. IMPA levels ranging from 2 to 135 ng/ml were found. High levels of IMPA appear to correlate with low levels of residual butyrylcholinesterase activity in the samples and vice versa. Based on our analyses, the internal and exposure doses of the victims were estimated. In several cases, the doses appeared to be substantially higher than the assumed lethal doses in man.