HPLC for nucleoside and metabolite measurement

我们正在研究局部组织环境如何影响单个细胞的行为-它们分裂，在组织内重新定位或履行其细胞类型固有的独特功能的能力。在这种情况下，显著改变细胞行为的一个因素是氧气（“缺氧”）和营养素的缺乏。在缺氧组织中，细胞的能量代谢发生了变化，并且参与能量供应循环的某些化学物质的释放急剧增加。其中最重要的是腺苷，我们的研究表明，腺苷能够改变细胞增殖，增强细胞移动的能力，并修改细胞外表面的调节蛋白的范围。这种不起眼的简单调节器可能在整个进化过程中协调细胞行为方面发挥了重要作用，并且在人类产前发育，防御机制和疾病中非常重要。 不久前，我们发现慢性缺氧组织的腺苷水平比正常组织高出约100倍。然而，从那时起，我们的努力，测量腺苷在某些情况下的变化，并将它们与我们看到的变化联系起来，由于缺乏可靠的测量这种化学物质的方法而受到阻碍。我们通过该计划获得的设备将使我们能够向前迈出一大步，不仅可以对腺苷进行仔细的测量，还可以对其他重要的代谢物进行测量。这不仅将帮助我们理解一个非常基本的过程，而且还将使我们能够将我们的工作推向利用这一现象为科学和治疗带来益处。

We are investigating how the local tissue environment affects the behaviour of individual cells - their ability to divide, to relocate within the tissue, or to fulfil the unique functions inherent to their cell type. One factor that dramatically changes cell behaviour in this context is deprivation of oxygen ('hypoxia') and nutrients. In hypoxic tissues the energy metabolism of the cells is changed, and there is a dramatic release of certain chemicals that are involved in the energy supply cycle. One of the most important is adenosine, which our research has shown is able to alter cell proliferation, enhance the ability of cells to move, and modify the range of regulatory proteins that the cell has on its outer surface. This unassuming, simple regulator has probably played an important part in coordinating cell behaviour throughout much of evolution, and is important in human prenatal development, defence mechanisms and disease.   We showed some time ago that chronically hypoxic tissue has levels of adenosine that are about 100-fold higher than in normal tissues. However, our efforts since then, to measure the changes in adenosine in certain situations and to relate them to the changes we see, have been hampered by the lack of a reliable means of measuring this chemical. The equipment that we have received through this program will allow us to make a major leap forward, and to perform careful measurements not only of adenosine but also of other important metabolites. Not only will this help us in our understanding of a very fundamental process, but it will also enable us to move our work toward exploiting this phenomenon for scientific and therapeutic benefit.