Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry determination of 18O2 in 18O-labelled 4-hydroxyproline for measurement of collagen synthesis and intracellular degradation.

The use of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and 18O2, a stable isotope which is incorporated into collagen during the post-translational conversion of proline to hydroxyproline, offers the potential advantages of high levels of sensitivity and specificity as compared to other techniques for measuring rates of collagen synthesis and degradation in vitro and vivo. Trifluoracetylation and methanol esterification of hydroxyproline yields two derivatives of hydroxyproline: N,O-trifluoroacetyl methyl 4-hydroxy-L-proline (N,O-TFA-Hyp) and N-trifluoroacetyl methyl 4-hydroxy-L-proline (N-TFA-Hyp). In the past, N-TFA-Hyp, which yields the 16O/18O-containing m/z 182/184 ion pair [M-COOH3]+ when analyzed by electron impact ionization GC-MS, has been proposed for analysis of 18O-enriched collagen. Although N,O-TFA-Hyp can be converted to N-TFA-Hyp by solvolysis, we find that this leads to degradation of the chromatography in GC-MS and demonstrate here that this extra chemical step is unnecessary if the m/z 278/280 ion pair (representing the [M-COOCH3]+. fragment) is measured by selected ion monitoring. By labelling fibroblasts in culture with 18O2, a sample of isotope-enriched collagen was obtained which was used to calibrate the GC-MS over the range 0.5-49% atom percent enrichment (APE). The greater sensitivity of 18O2 versus [15N]proline for labelling newly synthesized collagen was demonstrated by the finding of a ten-fold higher enrichment in the former isotope when administered to cell cultures at the same precursor APE. Thus, the approach described herein permits the determination of total hydroxyproline and APE on the same sample avoiding additional processing steps while maintaining the quality of chromatography and the sensitivity of detection. Measurement of absolute rates of both collagen synthesis and intracellular degradation of newly synthesized collagen in cell cultures is thus possible. Preliminary results comparing collagen metabolism in pairs of fibroblasts from hypertrophic scars and normal skin in post-burn patients are presented.