Design, and pharmacological evaluation of a peptide inhibitor of BACE-1.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the main type of dementia, caused by the accumulation of amyloid plaques, formed by amyloid peptides after being processed from amyloid precursor protein (APP) by - and -secretases (BACE-1). Although amyloid peptides have been well established for AD, they have been found in other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, Lewy body dementia, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Inhibitors of BACE-1 have been searched and developed, but clinical trials failed due to lack of efficacy or toxicity.

Determination of levocetirizine in human plasma by liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry: application to a bioequivalence study.

We describe a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric method (LC-MS/MS) for levocetirizine quantification (I) in human plasma. Sample preparation was made using a fexofenadine (II) addition as internal standard (IS), liquid-liquid extraction using cold dichloromethane, and dissolving the final extract in acetonitrile. I and II (IS) were injected in a C18 column and the mobile phase composed of acetonitrile:water:formic acid (80.