Abstract
There are many processes that actively alter the concentrations of solutes in the extracellular space. Enzymatic reactions, either by soluble enzymes or membrane-bound ectoenzymes, and uptake or clearance are two such processes. Investigations of ectoenzymatic reactions in vivo is challenging, particularly in the brain. Studies using microdialysis have revealed some qualitative information about what enzymes may be present, but microdialysis is a sampling technique so it is not designed to control conditions such as a substrate concentration outside the probe. Micropush-pull perfusion has been used to determine which nitric oxide synthase enzymes are active in discrete regions of the rat retina. Ectopeptidases are a particularly important class of ectoenzymes. As far as it is known, the extracellular activity of active peptides in the brain is controlled by ectopeptidases. To understand ectopeptidase activity, we developed a physical probe and an accompanying method. The probe has a two-channel source that supplies substrate or substrate plus inhibitor using electroosmotic perfusion (EOP). It also has a microdialysis probe to collect products and unreacted substrate. The method provides quantitative estimates of substrate-to-product conversion and the influence of inhibitors on this process. The quantitative estimates are made possible by including a d-amino acid-containing peptide analog of the substrate in the substrate-containing solution infused. Quantitative analysis of substrate, substrate analog, and products is carried out by quantitative, online capillary liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The electroosmotic perfusion-microdialysis probe and associated method were used to determine the effect of the selective inhibitor HFI-419 on insulin-regulated aminopeptidase (EC 3.4.11.3) in the rat neocortex.