Ivana Milic

Identification of carbonylated lipids from different phospholipid classes by shotgun and LC-MS lipidomics

AbstractOxidized lipids play a significant role in the pathogenesis of numerous oxidative stress-related human disorders, such as atherosclerosis, obesity, inflammation, and autoimmune diseases. Lipid peroxidation, induced by reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, yields a high variety of modified lipids. Among them, carbonylated lipid peroxidation products (oxoLPP), formed by oxidation of the fatty acid moiety yielding aldehydes or ketones (carbonyl groups), are electrophilic compounds that are able to modify nucleophilic substrates like proteins, nucleic acid, and aminophospholipids. Some carbonylated phosphatidylcholines possess even pro-inflammatory activities. However, little is known about oxoLPP derived from other phospholipid (PL) classes. Here, we present a new analytical strategy based on the mass spectrometry (MS) of PL-oxoLPP derivatized with 7-(diethylamino)coumarin-3-carbohydrazide (CHH). Shotgun MS revealed many oxoLPP derived from in vitro oxidized glycerophosphatidylglycerols (PG, 31), glycerophosphatidylcholine (PC, 23), glycerophosphatidylethanolamine (PE, 34), glycerophosphatidylserines (PS, 7), glycerophosphatidic acids (PA, 17), and phosphatidylinositiolphosphates (PIP, 6) vesicles. This data were used to optimize LipidXplorer-assisted identification, and a python-based post-processing script was developed to increase both throughput and accuracy. When applied to full lipid extracts from rat primary cardiomyocytes treated with peroxynitrite donor SIN-1, ten PL-bound oxoLPP were unambiguously identified by LC-MS, including two PC-, two PE-, one PG-, two PS-, and three PA-derived species. Some of the well-known carbonylated PC were detected, while most PL-oxoLPP were shown for the first time. Graphical AbstractOverview of analytical and bioinformatics approach for detection and identification of carbonylated phospholipids.

Characterization of oxidation products from 1-palmitoyl-2-linoleoyl-sn-glycerophosphatidylcholine in aqueous solutions and their reactions with cysteine, histidine and lysine residues.

This report focuses on studies of lipid peroxidation products reactivity towards the side chains of cysteine, histidine, and lysine residues in structurally unordered peptides. Thus we have analyzed linoleic acid peroxidation products (LaPP) obtained by incubating 1-palmitoyl-2-linoleoyl-sn-glycerophosphatidylcholine (PLPC) overnight with or without H(2)O(2) in the presence or absence of CuCl. In total, 55 different LaPP were identified with 26 containing reactive carbonyl groups. The strongest oxidation conditions (H(2)O(2) and Cu(I), i.e. a Fenton-like reagent) yielded 51 LaPP, whereas air oxidation produced only 12 LaPP. Independent of the oxidation conditions, around half of all LaPP were short-chain (oxidative cleavage) and the others long-chain (oxygen addition) PLPC oxidation products. The stronger oxidation conditions increased the number of LaPP, but also oxidized the added peptide Ac-PAAPAAPAPAEXTPV-OH (X=Cys, His or Lys) very quickly, especially under Fenton conditions. Thus, PLPC was oxidized by milder conditions (air or Cu(I)), incubated with the peptide and the peptide modifications were then analyzed by nano-RPC-ESI-Orbitrap-MS. Ten LaPP-derived peptide modifications were identified at lysine, whereas nine products were identified for cysteine and only three for histidine. Three high molecular weight LaPP still esterified to the GPC backbone were detected on Lys-containing peptide. Furthermore, three LaPP-derived mass shifts were obtained at cysteine, which have not previously been reported.

Separation and characterization of oxidized isomeric lipid-peptide adducts by ion mobility mass spectrometry

Phospholipids are major components of cell membranes and lipoprotein complexes. They are prone to oxidation by endogenous and exogenous reactive oxygen species yielding a large variety of modified lipids including small aliphatic and phospholipid bound aldehydes and ketones. These carbonyls are strong electrophiles that can modify proteins and, thereby, alter their structures and functions triggering various pathophysiological conditions. The analysis of lipid-protein adducts by liquid chromatography-MS is challenged by their mixed chemical nature (polar peptide and hydrophobic lipid), low abundance in biological samples, and formation of multiple isomers. Thus, we investigated traveling wave ion mobility mass spectrometry (TWIMS) to analyze lipid-peptide adducts generated by incubating model peptides corresponding to the amphipathic β1 sheet sequence of apolipoprotein B-100 with 1-palmitoyl-2-(oxo-nonanoyl)-sn-glycerophosphatidylcholine (PONPC). The complex mixture of peptides, lipids, and peptide-lipid adducts was separated by TWIMS, which was especially important for the identification of two mono-PONPC-peptide isomers containing Schiff bases at different lysine residues. Moreover, TWIMS separated structural conformers of one peptide-lipid adduct possessing most likely different orientations of the hydrophobic sn-1 fatty acyl residue and head group of PONPC, relative to the peptide backbone.

Heterogeneity of peptide adducts with carbonylated lipid peroxidation products.

Highly reactive lipid peroxidation-derived carbonyls (oxoLPP) modify protein nucleophiles via Michael addition or Schiff base formation. Once formed, Michael adducts can be further stabilized via cyclic hemiacetals with or without loss of water. Depending on the mechanism of their formation, peptide-oxoLPP can carry aldehyde or keto groups and thus be a part of the total protein carbonylation level. If a carbonyl function is lost during consecutive reactions, the oxoLPP-peptide adducts will not be detected using the common carbonyl labeling protocols. Because of the differences in adduct stabilities, it is possible to address the heterogeneity of peptide/protein-oxoLPP adducts by careful evaluation of tandem mass spectra of modified peptides. Here, we used hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis of lysine, cysteine and histidine containing model peptides co-incubated with oxidized 1-palmitoyl-2-linoleoyl-sn-glycerophosphatidylcholine to characterize the collision-induced dissociation behavior of peptide-carbonyl adducts. Numerous modifications were detected based on the analysis of tandem mass spectra, including Schiff bases on lysine (two), Michael adducts on lysine (six), cysteine (eleven) and histidine (two), as well as 4-hydroxy-2-aldehydes derived dehydrated cyclic hemiacetals on cysteine (five) and histidine (one). Additionally, cysteine and histidine side chains were modified by lipid-bound aldehydes as Michael adducts and dehydrated hemiacetals. The tandem mass spectra revealed collision-induced dissociation characteristics specific for each class of oxoLPP-peptide adducts.

Recent Advances on Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Nitrated Phospholipids

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in nitro fatty acids (NO2-FA) as signaling molecules formed under nitroxidative stress. NO2-FA were detected in vivo in a free form, although it is assumed that they may also be esterified to phospholipids (PL). Nevertheless, insufficient discussion about the nature, origin, or role of nitro phospholipids (NO2-PL) was reported up to now. The aim of this study was to develop a mass spectrometry (MS) based approach which allows identifying nitroalkenes derivatives of three major PL classes found in living systems: phosphatidylcholines (PCs), phosphatidylethanolamine (PEs), and phosphatidylserines (PSs). NO2-PLs were generated by NO2BF4 in hydrophobic environment, mimicking biological systems. The NO2-PLs were then detected by electrospray ionization (ESI-MS) and ESI-MS coupled to hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC). Identified NO2-PLs were further analyzed by tandem MS in positive (as [M + H](+) ions for all PL classes) and negative-ion mode (as [M - H](-) ions for PEs and PSs and [M + OAc](-) ions for PCs). Typical MS/MS fragmentation pattern of all NO2-PL included a neutral loss of HNO2, product ions arising from the combined loss of polar headgroup and HNO2, [NO2-FA + H](+) and [NO2-FA - H](-) product ions, and cleavages on the fatty acid backbone near the nitro group, allowing its localization within the FA akyl chain. Developed MS method was used to identify NO2-PL in cardiac mitochondria from a well-characterized animal model of type 1 diabetes mellitus. We identified nine NO2-PCs and one NO2-PE species. The physiological relevance of these findings is still unknown.

Derivatization and detection of small aliphatic and lipid-bound carbonylated lipid peroxidation products by ESI-MS.

Double bonds in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and lipids are one of the major targets of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The resulting lipid peroxidation products (LPP) represent a group of chemically diverse compounds formed by several consecutive oxidative reactions. Oxidative cleavage leads to the formation of small aliphatic and lipid-bound aldehydes and ketones (oxoLPPs). These strong electrophiles can readily react with nucleophilic substrates, for example, side chains in proteins which can alter structure, function, and cellular distribution of the modified proteins. Despite growing interest in the field of oxidative lipidomics, only a few dominantly formed oxoLPP were identified. Due to the chemical and physical properties, aliphatic oxoLPPs are usually analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC- MS), while nonvolatile lipid-bound oxoLPPs require liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). To overcome the need for the two analyses, we have developed a new derivatization strategy to capture all oxoLPP independent to their properties with electrospray ionization (ESI) MS allowing simultaneous detection of aliphatic and lipid-bound oxoLPPs. Thus, the 7-(diethylamino)coumarin-3-carbohydrazide (CHH) derivatization reagent allowed us to identify 122 carbonyl compounds in a mixture of four PUFA and phosphatidylcholines (PC) oxidized in vitro.