Quantification of the Chemical Chaperone 4-Phenylbutyric Acid (4-PBA) in Cell Culture Media via LC-HRMS: Applications in Fields of Neurodegeneration and Cancer

In recent years, 4-phenylbutyric acid (4-PBA), an FDA-approved drug, has increasingly been used as a nonspecific chemical chaperone in vitro and in vitro, but its pharmacodynamics is still not clear. In this context, we developed and validated a Liquid Chromatography-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (LC-HRMS) method to quantify 4-PBA in NeuroBasal-A and Dulbecco's Modified Eagle widely used cell culture media. Samples were injected on a Luna((R)) 3 mu m PFP(2) 100 angstrom (100 x 2.0 mm) column maintained at 40 degrees C. Water and methanol both with 0.1% formic acid served as mobile phases in a step gradient mode. The mass acquisition was performed by selected ion monitoring (SIM) in negative mode for a total run time of 10.5 min at a flow rate of 0.300 mL/min. The analogue 4-(4-Nitrophenyl)-Butyric Acid served as internal standard. Validation parameters were verified according to FDA and EMA guidelines. The quantification ranges from 0.38-24 mu M. Inter and intraday RSDs (Relative Standard Deviations) were within 15%. The developed LC-HRMS method allowed the estimation of 4-PBA absorption and adsorption kinetics in vitro in two experimental systems: (i) 4-PBA improvement of protein synthesis in an Alzheimer's disease astrocytic cell model; and (ii) 4-PBA reduction of endoplasmic reticulum stress in thapsigargin-treated melanoma cell lines.