![Sample our Physical Sciences journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/110819/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Physical-Sciences.jpg"})
Abstract
An optimized high performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization/tandem mass spectrometry method was developed and optimized for the determination of seven nucleotides and nucleotide sugars in the extract of Candida albicans. The chromatographic separation was performed on a porous graphitic carbon column with gradient elution using acetonitrile and aqueous ammonia acetate containing 0.1% formic acid adjusted to pH 8.8. Negative-ion mode electrospray ionization mass spectrometry was applied to improve the selectivity and sensitivity of the analysis. The calibration curves showed excellent linearity over approximately three orders of magnitude with correlation coefficients exceeding 0.9946. The relative standard deviations of measurements were smaller than 4% (n = 5) and the accuracy of the intra-day and inter-day measurements were between 95.2% and 106.7%. The extraction recovery of each component was within satisfactory ranges. The validated method was applied to characterize the nucleotides metabolic profiles of the biofilm compared to the planktonic mode to evaluate changes of energy states in different growth modes of C. albicans. The levels of nucleotides and nucleotide sugar in the biofilm model treated with 5-fluoropyrimidine, baicalein, and sodium houttuyfonate were determined to investigate their effects on nucleotide metabolism and the mechanisms of antifungal agents.
Acknowledgments
The authors appreciate the financial support from the National Natural Science Fund of China (No. 81271798) and (No. 81273474).
Notes
Tianqi Wang and Xiaofei Chen contributed equally to this work.