Detection of protein adduction derived from dauricine by alkaline permethylation

Dauricine is a bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloid derivative and has shown multiple pharmacological properties. Despite this, our previous study demonstrated that dauricine induced severe lung toxicity in experimental animals. Metabolic activation of dauricine to the corresponding quinone methide intermediate is suggested to play an important role in dauricine-induced cytotoxicity. Protein adduction derived from the reactive intermediate is considered to initiate the process of the toxicity. In the present study, we developed an alkaline permethylation- and mass spectrometry-based approach to detect dauricine-derived protein adduction. Protein samples were permethylated in the presence of NaOH and CH3I at 80 °C, followed by LC-MS/MS analysis. A thioether product was produced in the reaction. Not only does this technique quantify dauricine-derived protein adduction but also it tells the nature of the interaction between the target proteins and the reactive intermediate of dauricine. The recovery, precision, limit of detection, limit of quantity, and method detection limit were found to be 102.8 %±1.7 %, 1.89 %, 1.32 fmol/mL, 4.93 fmol/mL and 3.37 fmol/mL respectively. The surrogate recovery and surrogate RSD values were 81.5-103.0 % and 2.59 %, respectively. This analytical method has proven sensitive, selective, reliable, and feasible to assess total protein adduction derived from dauricine, and will facilitate the mechanistic investigation of dauricine and other bisbenzylisoquinoline toxicities. Graphical Abstract Alkaline permethylation of dauricine derived protein adduct.