Silviya Stoykova

Stability of diazepam in blood samples at different storage conditions and in the presence of alcohol

Diazepam is one of the mostly used benzodiazepines and it is frequently analyzed in different biological samples, especially blood samples. The diazepam stability in the sample matrices is an important factor regarding reliable data obtaining. The storage is the main factor determining the stability of diazepam in blood samples and it is the object of the study presented. Remaining diazepam amount in spiked whole blood and plasma samples were tested at different storage temperatures, in the absence or presence of sodium fluoride as stabilizer as well as the influence of ethanol on diazepam stability was evaluated. The results of the study indicated that the temperature is the main storage factor affecting diazepam stability. In the fluoride stabilized blood samples the amount of diazepam decreases up to 85% of initial level when stored at -20° C for the period of testing (12 weeks). The presence of low (0.5 g/L) or high (3g/L) ethanol concentrations influences the stability of diazepam at -20 °C. In whole blood samples, the combination of sodium fluoride and ethanol decreases additionally (15-25%) the concentration of the analyte. Freeze-thaw experiments of whole blood samples show about 5-9% decrease in diazepam concentration after the first cycle. The freeze-thaw experiments on plasma samples, containing ethanol and/or fluoride show insignificant decreases of analyte concentration. Further experiments on benzodiazepines stability at different storage conditions or in combination of different factors should be undertaken in forensic toxicology to ensure the data quality, their reliability and reproducibility.

Effect of Some Divalent Metal Ions on Enzymatic Activity of Secreted Phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) Isolated from Bulgarian Vipera Ammodytes Meridionalis

ABSTRACT The effect of Ca2+ and some divalent metal ions related to it (Mg, Sr, Ba, Cd) on the hydrolysis of natural and artificial substrates catalyzed by vipoxin secreted phospholipase A2 subunit (sPLA2) was evaluated. The results showed that the hydrolysis of natural glycerophospholipids proceeds at a highest rate when the enzyme is activated by calcium ions. The catalytic activity of sPLA2 decreased in the presence of other metal ions possibly due to their lower coordination ability to the head group of lipids. Oppositely, the hydrolysis of artificial substrates was facilitated by metal ions with ionic radii larger than Ca2+, such as Sr2+ and Ba2+, suggesting that not only the interaction with metal cations, but also the origin of the head group should be considered. The fluorescence assay revealed that conformational changes occur during the coordination of metal ions into the catalytic site of sPLA2 prior to subsequent hydrolysis. It could be concluded that the rate-limiting step in the catalytic cycle (e.g. the chemical interaction) is not completely adequate to evaluate all factors affecting the hydrolytic activity of vipoxin sPLA2.

Acute toxicity of vipoxin and its components: is the acidic component an "inhibitor" of PLA2 toxicity?

ABSTRACT Vipoxin is a heterodimeric neurotoxin isolated from the venom of the Bulgarian long-nosed viper Vipera ammodytes meridionalis. Vipoxin represents a noncovalent association of two subunits - a basic and toxic phospholipase A2 enzyme, and an acidic nonenzymatic component (vipoxin’s acidic component). It was postulated that the phospholipase A2 subunit was more toxic than the whole vipoxin complex and the function of the acidic component was to reduce the enzymatic and toxic activities of the basic phospholipase A2. In the present study, we report new data on the acute toxicity (LD50) of vipoxin and its individual separated components. Vipoxin LD50 (mice, i.p. and i.v.) values were found to be 0.7-1.2 mg/kg b.w. (i.p.) and 0.9-1.3 mg/kg b.w. (i.v.). The established LD50 values for the separated pure phospholipase A2 subunit are higher - 10.0-13.0 mg/kg b.w (i.p.) and 2.2-3.0 mg/kg b.w. (i.v.), i.e. the individual phospholipase A2 subunit displays less toxic activity than vipoxin, contrary to the data published in the literature. The reconstituted vipoxin complex (obtained after preliminary incubation of pure separated phospholipase A2 and acidic component showed enzyme activity and toxicity comparable to that of the native vipoxin complex. Addition of acidic component to the phospholipase A2 subunit showed a positive effect on the enzymatic activity, reaching maximal enzyme reaction rate of acidic component to phospholipase A2 molar ratio of 0.8:1 on using 4-nitro-3-octanoyloxy-benzoic acid as substrate. For the first time we showed that the acidic subunit was absolutely required for the toxic activity of vipoxin. Based on the obtained results, we assume that the function of the acidic component is to stabilize the neurotoxin’s quaternary structure, required for its toxic and enzymatic activities, similarly to the role of the acidic component of crotoxin.

Hemolytic activity and platelet aggregation inhibitory effect of vipoxin's basic sPLA2 subunit.

ABSTRACT In the present study we evaluated the effect of secreted phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) (the toxic subunit of the heterodimeric neurotoxin vipoxin, isolated from the Bulgarian long-nosed viper Vipera ammodytes meridionalis) on hemolysis, erythrocyte morphology and platelet aggregation. Hemolytic activity of sPLA2 was examined in the presence of saturated (palmitic) and unsaturated (oleic) fatty acids and it was found that oleic acid increased the hemolytic activity of sPLA2 in a concentration-dependent manner, compared to the effect of palmitic acid and controls. The addition of heparin to red blood cells (RBC) suspension containing sPLA2 or mixture of sPLA2 and the corresponding fatty acid led to an inhibition of hemolytic activity. The effect of sPLA2 on RBC morphology resulted in formation of echinocytes (spherocyte subtype), suggesting that RBC could be the possible targets attacked by sPLA2. Vipoxin sPLA2 inhibited (in a dose-dependent manner) platelet aggregation when arachidonic acid and collagen were used as inducers, while in the case of ADP its inhibitory effect was inappreciable.