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A rapid and highly sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method has been developed and validated for the determination of a novel anti-HBV compound Y101 and its metabolites M8 and M9 in human plasma. The plasma samples were deproteinated with acetonitrile after addition of Peramivir (internal standard, IS) and separated on a 40 °C ACQUITY UPLC BEH C 18 column (2.1 mm × 50 mm, 1.7 μm). The mobile phase consisted of water (containing 5 mM ammonium acetate and 0.1% formic acid) and acetonitrile (74:26, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. The detection was performed on a Triple Quad 5500 tandem mass spectrometer coupled with electrospray ionization (ESI) source in positive mode. Quantification was conducted by multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) of the transitions of m/z 490.1 → 339.0 for Y101, m/z 357.2 → 105.2 for metabolite M8, m/z 373.1 → 105.1 for metabolite M9 and m/z 329.1 → 270.2 for IS, respectively. The method was validated over the calibration curve range of 1.000-1000 ng/mL for Y101, 2.000-2000 ng/mL for metabolite M8 and 0.3000-300.0 ng/mL for metabolite M9, using linear regression and 1/x 2 weighting. No matrix effect and carryover effect was observed. The intra- and inter-batch precision and accuracy of Y101, metabolite M8 and M9 were all within the acceptable criteria. This method allows a rapid and simple determination of Y101 and its metabolites M8 and M9 in human plasma. It was successfully applied in a pharmacokinetic study in human for the first time., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Biological thiol compounds are very important molecules that participate in various physiological events. Alteration in levels of endogenous thiols has been suggested as a biomarker of early stage of pathological changes. We reported a chemical derivatization- and LC-MS/MS-based approach to simultaneously determine thiol compounds including glutathione (GSH), cysteine (Cys), N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), homocysteine (Hcy), and cysteinylglycine (CysGly) in biological samples. Thiol-containing samples were derivatized with monobromobimane (mBrB) at room temperature, followed by LC-MS/MS analysis. Assessment of the analytes with baseline separation was completed within 10min, using a gradient elution on a C18 reversed-phase column. Excellent linearity was observed for all analytes over their concentration ranges of 1-400μM. The lowest limits of detection (S/N=3) in a range from 0.31fmol (for NAC) to 4.98fmol (for CysGly) were achieved. The results indicate that this approach was sensitive, selective, and well suited for high-throughput quantitative determination of the biological thiols., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A new long-wavelength fluorescent probe, 1,7-dimethyl-3,5-distyryl-8-phenyl-(4'-iodoacetamido)difluoroboradiaza-s-indacene (DMDSPAB-I), was designed and synthesized for thiol labeling in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The excitation and emission wavelengths of DMDSPAB-I are 620 and 630 nm, respectively, with a high fluorescence quantum yield of 0.557, which is advantageous in preventing interference of intrinsic fluorescence from complex biological matrices and enabling high sensitivity HPLC. Based on DMDSPAB-I, a reversed-phase HPLC method was developed for measuring low-molecular-weight thiols including glutathione, cysteine, homocysteine, N-acetylcysteine, cysteinylglycine, and penicillamine. After the specific reaction of DMDSPAB-I with thiols, baseline separation of all six stable derivatives was achieved through isocratic elution on a C18 column within 25 min, with the limits of detection (signal-to-noise ratio = 3) from 0.24 nmol L(-1) for glutathione to 0.72 nmol L(-1) for penicillamine. The proposed method was validated in part by measuring thiols in blood samples from mice, with recoveries of 95.3-104.3%.

Biologically active low-molecular-mass thiols, mainly including glutathione (GSH), cysteine (Cys), homocysteine (Hcy), and cysteinylglycine (Cys-Gly), are important physiological components in biological fluids, and their analytical methods have gained continuous attention over recent years. We developed and validated a novel HPLC method for the quantification of GSH, Cys, Hcy, and Cys-Gly in human plasma, urine, and saliva using 4-chloro-3,5-dinitrobenzotrifluoride as the derivatization reagent. Analyses were linear from 0.15 to 500 μM with the coefficient regression range of 0.9987-0.9994. Detection limits ranged from 0.04 to 0.08 μM (S/N=3). The developed method was applied to quantification of four thiols in human biological fluids collected from five donors with the concentration range of 2.50-124.25 μM, 0-72.81 μM, and 0-4.25 μM for plasma, urine, and saliva, respectively. The present method seemed to be an attractive choice for the determination of thiols in plasma, urine, and saliva.

Alterations in the plasma aminothiols levels can be considered as important biomarkers for the diagnosis and screening of several human disorders, namely cardiovascular diseases. We aimed to optimize a rapid, sensitive and accurate RP-HPLC methodology with fluorescence detection, for the simultaneous determination of the total concentrations of cysteine, homocysteine, cysteinylglycine and glutathione in blood plasma, as well as its application to the evaluation of those thiols levels in plasma of a group of Azorean subjects. Aminothiols were reduced with tri-n-butylphosphine and derivatized with a thiol-specific fluorogenic reagent ammonium 7-fluorobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole-4-sulphonate. The thiols adducts were separated by an isocratic elution on a Platinum EPS C18 analytical column (53mm×7mm I.D., 3μm) using a phosphate buffer containing 4% of acetonitrile as a mobile phase. Results indicated an excellent linearity for all the analytes over their respective concentration ranges with correlation coefficients (r(2)) ≥0.99. The LOD for the four plasma thiols was lower than 0.10μmol/L, while LOQ varied from 0.5 to 15μmol/L. For both intra- and inter-day precision, the RSD (%) values were lower than 1.9%, and the CV (%) values were found under 0.5%. The recovery ranged from 92% to 100% indicating a high degree of the method's accuracy. This method allows a simultaneous, complete analysis of the four plasma aminothiols and the internal standard in 6min. By reducing the total run time, a larger number of analysis can be performed daily., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A novel, simple and rapid ultraperformance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) assay was established for quantification of saxagliptin in rat plasma. Plasma samples were processed by liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate and chromatographed on a C₁₈ column (2.1 × 50 mm i.d., 1.7 µm). The mobile phase consisted of methanol and 0.1% formic acid (40:60, v/v). Multiple reaction monitoring transitions were performed for detection in positive-ion mode with an electrospray ionization source. The calibration curve was linear over the concentration range of 0.5-100 ng/mL (R²  > 0.99). All accuracy values were between 90.62 and 105.60% relative error and the intra- and inter-day precisions were less than 9.66% relative standard deviation. Extraction recovery was more than 81.01% and the matrix effect ranged from 90.27 to 109.15%. After validation, the method was applied to a pharmacokinetic study where healthy rats were orally given 0.5 mg/kg saxagliptin., (Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Background: The fast-paced nature of the pharmaceutical industry requires robust bioanalytical methods to endure the high-throughput sample demands of the production environment., Results: A rapid, accurate and precise LC-MS/MS method was developed for the quantitation of a diastereomer quartet in human plasma. Virtually all of the phosphatidylcholine and most of the lysophosphatidylcholine from human plasma were removed using a phospholipid-removing protein precipitation 96-well plate. An Agilent Poroshell SB-C18 2.1 × 50 mm superficially porous column was used at 100°C and 1.2 ml/min to separate a diastereomer quartet in <2.5 min. Peak shape, retention and resolution were maintained over nearly 200 extracted bioanalytical samples under these separation conditions. The method was tested for accuracy and precision; the assay inter-run accuracy and precision were minus 7.2-0.7% and 2.1-11.9%, respectively (n = 18)., Conclusion: The application of the superficially porous column resulted in twofold response increase and a 2.6-fold reduction in cycle time compared with a 3.5-µm column performing under comparable resolution conditions.

Altered levels of aminothiols in biological fluids are thought to be an important risk indicator for several diseases, and reliable methods for the accurate determination of aminothiols concentrations in plasma are thus required. In this paper ammonium 5-bromo-7-fluorobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole-4-sulphonate (SBD-BF) is proposed as a convenient fluorogenic derivatizating reagent for the determination of aminothiols (cysteine, cysteinylglycine, homocysteine and glutathione) by HPLC with fluorescence detection. The reactions of SBD-BF with aminothiols at room temperature are about three-times faster than those of ammonium 7-fluorobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole-4-sulphonate (the most frequently employed reagent) at 60 degrees C. The derivatives of SBD-BF with cysteine, cysteinylglycine, homocysteine and glutathione are easily separated by HPLC and their calibration curves show excellent linearity over the range 0.05-20 micromol/L with excellent r(2) values for all analytes. SBD-BF reacts with thiols under mild conditions, i.e. at 25 degrees C over about 30 min, and is proposed as a suitable fluorogenic reagent for thiol derivatization to be introduced in analytical clinical chemistry. The detection limits of Cys, Cys-Gly, Hcy and GSH at a signal-to-noise ratio of 5 were 0.1 microM for Cys, 0.01 microM for Cys-Gly and Hcy, and 0.02 microM for GSH. Furthermore, validation parameters of the proposed method are quite satisfactory. As an application of this method the determination of thiol derivatives in human plasma was carried out on a number of samples., (Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A fully automated HPLC method for the simultaneous determination of total thiols in plasma samples has been developed. The method involves reductive conversion of disulfides to their reduced counterparts with the use of tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine. After reduction the newly formed sulfhydryl groups are reacted with 2-chloro-1-methylquinolinium tetrafluoroborate to form 2-S-quinolinium derivatives followed by deproteinization by dialysis. The reaction products are separated by reversed-phase HPLC, detected and quantified by UV absorbance detection at 355nm. The recommended HPLC procedure enables measurement of four main plasma aminothiols cysteine, cysteinylglycine, glutathione, and homocysteine with low imprecision (mean relative standard deviations within calibration range, 3.47%, 5.34%, 4.25% and 3.26%, respectively) and good sensitivity. Accuracy, expressed as the mean measured amount as percentage of added amount, was within 97.5-103.0%, 98.3-102.5%, 96.3-99.5% and 97.1-99.1%, respectively. The lower limit of quantification for all thiols was 0.5microM. The whole unattended instrument acquisition time amounts 13min.

A high-performance liquid chromatography method was developed for simultaneous detection and quantitation of total cysteine, glutathione, homocysteine and cysteinylglycine in human plasma. The two key steps in the analysis are reduction of disulfides and treatment with 1-benzyl-2-chloropyridinium bromide, which rapidly and quantitatively reacts with thiol groups to form stable S-pyridinium derivatives with intense UV absorption. The derivatives are well separated on a Zorbax SB C(18) column using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography and monitored at 315 nm. The calibration graphs were linear over concentration ranges covering most experimental and clinical cases with a regression coefficients better than 0.999. The detection and quantitation limits for all analytes were 0.2 and 0.5 micromol/L, respectively. The recoveries were 99.25-101.68%. The intra- and interassay imprecisions were 0.88-4.24 and 1.68-5.14%, respectively. The method was applied for plasma samples donated by apparently healthy volunteers., ((c) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

A sensitive, reproducible, and robust high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method has been validated for simultaneously determining total concentrations of the aminothiols homocysteine, cysteine, cysteinylglycine, and glutathione in human plasma. Plasma aminothiols are reduced via incubation with tris-(2-carboxyethyl)-phosphine hydrochloride, followed by protein precipitation with trichloroacetic acid and derivatization with ammonium-7-fluorobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole-4-sulfonic acid. Separation of aminothiols and the internal standard mercaptopropionylglycine is achieved using reversed-phase HPLC conditions and fluorescence detection. Excellent linearity is observed for all analytes over their respective concentration ranges with correlation coefficients (r) > 0.99. The intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy were within +/-10%. This method utilizes an internal standard, employs phosphate buffered saline-based standards and quality controls, and demonstrates excellent plasma recovery and improved sensitivity. This assay is well suited for high-throughput quantitative determination of aminothiols in clinical studies, and is currently being used to support investigations of oxidative stress in patients with chronic kidney disease.

A double column-switching HPLC method with naphthalene-2,3-dialdehyde (NDA) was applied for determination of two plasma antihypertensive peptides, Val-Tyr (VY) and Ile-Val-Tyr (IVY). After a first separation on a Phe-ODS column, double heart-cuts of the retention time corresponding to NDA-VY and NDA-IVY elutions were successfully separated on an analytical ODS column: 60% acetonitrile in 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid containing 5 mM sodium 1-octanesulfonate at 1.0 mL/min. Within-run coefficients of variation were 1.73% and 4.73% for VY and IVY, respectively.

A sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic method for quantification of sulphydryl and disulfide amino acids in human plasma using ultra violet spectrophotometric detection was developed. Precolumn derivatization with 5,5'-dithio-bis-nitrobenzoic acid (DTNB) and an optional pre-derivatization reaction with dithiothreitol allowed both quantitative reduction of disulfides for measurement of total amino acid levels and the measurement of the reduced forms. A dynamic range of 500 nmol/l-750 micromol/l allowed the major analytes of interest to be quantified in plasma without sample dilution. The assay is a sensitive and precise method for the determination of sulphydryl and disulfide amino acids in plasma and cell extracts.

A highly sensitive HPLC method for the determination of prolyl dipeptides, Pro and Hyp in serum was developed. After deproteinization of serum and pretreatment with o-phthalaldehyde, the analytes were derivatized with 4-(5,6-dimethoxy-2-phthalimidinyl)-2-methoxyphenylsulfonyl chloride at 70 degrees C for 10 min. The fluorescent derivatives of prolyl dipeptides, Pro and Hyp, were separated on tandem reversed-phase columns by a gradient elution at 55 degrees C and detected by fluorescence measured at 318 nm (excitation) and 392 nm (emission). The detection limits for prolyl dipeptides were 2-5 fmol/injection (S/N=3). Pro-Hyp, Pro-Gly and Pro-Pro were identified as serum prolyl dipeptides. The within-day and between-day relative standard deviations were 1.5-7.9 and 2.4-10.8%, respectively. The recoveries were in the range of 90.8-97.3%. The concentrations of Pro-Hyp, Pro-Gly, Pro-Pro, Pro and Hyp in normal human serum (n = 10) were 0.64+/-0.35, 0.078+/-0.047, 0.022+/-0.016, 177.0+/-43.0 and 11.1+/-3.5 microM, respectively. The concentrations of Pro-Hyp and Pro-Pro in serum of a patient with bone metastases of prostatic cancer were about three times and 50 times, respectively, higher than those in normal human serum.

We here describe an ion-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography technique with electrochemical detection for rapid quantification of glutathione, homocysteine, cysteinylglycine, and methionine. The analytical validation of the technique showed within-assay and between-assay coefficients of variation between 3.1 and 4.3%, and 3.7 and 8.6%, respectively. Percentages of recovery for overload and dilution tests were between 87 and 120%. Detection limits were 1 micromol/L for methionine and 0.5 micromol/L for other compounds. There was no interference with any physiological and pharmacological substances possessing a thiol function. Aminothiol concentrations determined in 100 control subjects (50 women and 50 men) showed no age- or sex-rated differences for except for homocysteine which was increased (+ 28%) in oldest subjects of both sexes. In 60 patients at risk (30 with chronic renal failure, 30 with diabetes), homocysteine concentration was significantly increased. No variation in other aminothiols was observed in diabetic subjects. Methionine was decreased and cysteinylglycine was increased in patients with chronic renal failure. The present technique-rapid, easy to use, and reliable-appears suitable for routine application in the exploration of aminothiol metabolic pathways including mechanisms of hyperhomocysteinemia.

A detailed investigation of the factors affecting the determination of total plasma 7-fluorobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole-4-sulfonate (SBD)-thiol derivatives (i.e. cysteine, homocysteine and cysteinylglycine) is described. Essentially, this assay entails extracting specific thiols by plasma disulphide bond reduction, protein precipitation, sulphydryl compound derivatization with the thiol-specific fluorogenic reagent ammonium 7-fluorobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole-4-sulphonate (SBD-F), and subsequent separation with isocratic reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. By improving the reliability of several analytical parameters (composition of the mobile phase, pretreatment of the sample using different reducing and protein precipitation agents, and optimization of the derivatization of thiols with SBD-F), a number of critical issues can be identified and solved.

Plasma concentrations of homocysteine, cysteine, cysteinylglycine and glutathione were measured using a HPLC technique with fluorescence detection of the derivatives obtained with 7-fluoro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole-4-sulfonamide (ABD-F). Blood was drawn into chilled EDTA-evacuated tubes. After centrifugation at 4 degrees C without delay, plasma samples were kept frozen at -20 degrees C until analysis. Reduction of protein bound aminothiols and disulfides standards was achieved with tri-n-butylphosphine. N-acetylcysteine was used as internal standard. After protein precipitation, derivatization was carried out at pH 8.0 and 50 degrees C for 20 min. Stability of ABD-thiols was ensured for at least 5 days by lowering pH to 2. Derivatives were separated by isocratic elution on a Waters mu Bondapak C18 column (10 microns, 3.9 x 300 mm) with 0.1 M phosphate buffer pH 3.2 containing 10% acetonitrile. Excitation and emission wavelengths were 385 and 515 nm. Retention times were 4.9, 5.8, 7.3, 9.9 and 20.1 min respectively for cysteine, cysteinylglycine, homocysteine, glutathione and N-acetylcysteine. Peaks were quantified by comparison to a standard curve prepared by plotting peak height versus the different levels of known standard solutions after normalization with internal standard. Between-run CVs varied from 5 to 8.5%. The detection limit was < 0.5 mumol/l for homocysteine and glutathione. In plasma samples from healthy subjects, concentration of homocysteine was higher in men than in women (11.0 +/- 2.9 versus 9.2 +/- 2.7 mumol/l, p < 0.01). These values are similar to those obtained with other widely used methods.

Simple and precise high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) assays were developed and validated for the determination of a renin inhibitor (RI), 4-cyclohexyl-2-hydroxy-3- (3-methylsulfanyl-2-[2-[(morpholine-4-carbonyl)amino]- 3-phenylpropionylamino]propionylamino)butyric acid isopropyl ester (CP-80,794, I), and its hydrolytic cleavage metabolite, 2-[(morpholine-4-carbonyl)amino]-3-phenylpropionic acid (CP-84,364, II) in dog and human plasma. The internal standard for I, CP-83,092 (III, a carbon-substituted derivative of I) and analyte were extracted by liquid-liquid extraction using n-butyl chloride, cleaved to form a fragment containing a primary amine, and subsequently fluorescently derivatized for measurement by HPLC. Samples were analyzed by reversed-phase HPLC using a Waters C18 column with fluorescence detection at 390 nm excitation/440 nm emission. The quantitation limit of I was 10 ng/ml and the calibration curve was linear over the range of 0.01-1.0 microgram/ml (r2 > 0.99). In dog and human plasma, intra- and inter-assay precision ranged from 2.3 to 16% and 3.0 to 18%, respectively. The average recoveries were similar (> or = 63%) for both I and III and the upper limit of quantification of I can be as high as 4 micrograms/ml. The internal standard for II, CP-96,452 (IV, a methoxy derivative of II) and analyte were extracted by anion-exchange solid-phase extraction and subsequent liquid-liquid extraction using methyl tert.-butyl ether. Samples were analyzed by reversed-phase HPLC using a Waters C18 column with ultraviolet detection at 214 nm. The quantitation limit of II was 20 ng/ml and the calibration curve was linear over the range of 0.02-2.0 micrograms/ml (r2 > 0.99). In dog and human plasma, intra- and inter-assay precision ranged from 2.6 to 13.0% and 1.8 to 20.0%, respectively. The average recoveries were similar (> or = 75%) for both II and IV and the upper limit of quantification of II can be as high as 20 micrograms/ml. The methods described have been successfully applied to the quantification of I and II in about 5000 dog and human plasma samples over a 2 year period.

L-4-oxalysinyl-norvalinyl-N3-4-methoxyfumaroyl-L-2,3-diaminopropanoic acid (I-677-Nva-FMDP) is a new tripeptide synthesized in our group. This peptide exhibits potent anticandida Albicans activity. In the presence of serum, the antifun gal activity of I-677-Nva-FMDP decreases after incubating over 1h. In order to investigate the relationship between the degradation and antifungal activity of I-677-Nva-FMDP, the concentrations of I-677-Nva-FMDP and N3-methoxyfumaroyl-L-2,3-diaminopropanoic acid (FMDP) were determined at different incubating time in mice serum. The incubating time range was from 0 to 300 min and the incubating samples were measured at intervals of 30 min. For this measurement reversed-phase HPLC was used and the mobile phase was composed of 8% methanol and 0.1% trifluoroacitic acid-triethyl amine buffer (pH 3). In this condition the retention time of FMDP and I-677-Nva-FMDP were 3.9 min and 16.5 min respectively. Methanol was superior to other reagents for the removal of protein from the incubating medium and there was not any interference peak before the retention time of I-677-Nva-FMDP. A decrease in concentration of I-677-Nva-FMDP was observed from 0 min to 180 min and no I-677-Nva-FMDP could be detected at 210 min whereas the concentration of FMDP incresed from 30 min to 2h and reached a maximum at 120 min. The results showed that the half life (t1/2) of I-677-Nva-FMDP was 70 min. This result coincided with the antifungal test in vitro.

High-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection has been utilized for the rapid determination of total homocysteine, cysteine, and cysteinylglycine in human serum and plasma. Our earlier procedure (Anal Biochem 1989;178:208), which used monobromobimane to specifically derivatize thiols, has been extensively modified to allow for rapid processing of samples. As a result, > 80 samples a day can be assayed for total homocysteine, cysteine, and cysteinylglycine. The method is sensitive (lower limit of detection < or = 4 pmol in the assay) and precise (intra- and interassay CV for homocysteine, 3.31% and 4.85%, respectively). Mean total homocysteine concentrations in plasma and serum were significantly different, both from healthy male donors (9.26 and 12.30 mumol/L, respectively; P < 0.001) and healthy female donors (7.85 and 10.34 mumol/L, respectively; P < 0.001). The differences in total homocysteine between sexes were also significant (P = 0.002 for both plasma and serum). Similar differences were found for cysteine and cysteinylglycine. We found a significant inverse correlation between serum cobalamin and total homocysteine in men (P = 0.0102) and women (P = 0.0174). Serum folate also inversely correlated with total homocysteine in both sexes.

We describe a versatile high-performance liquid-chromatographic method for determining homocysteine and other plasma sulfhydryls. Using three different procedures for preparation of plasma, we determined total, free (non-protein-bound), and reduced forms of homocysteine, cysteine, glutathione, cysteinylglycine, and gamma-glutamylcysteine in human plasma. Sample preparation involves disulfide reduction with dithiothreitol and protein precipitation with sulfosalicylic acid. The assay utilizes isocratic reversed-phase ion-pair liquid chromatography at pH 2.4, postcolumn derivatization with 4,4'-dithiodipyridine, and colorimetric detection at 324 nm. The intra-assay precision (CV) of the method for total homocysteine is 1.5%; the interassay precision over 2.5 months is 2.5%. The detection limit for homocysteine is < 50 nmol/L plasma.

We have developed a modified version of our fully automated column-switching HPLC method for determining total plasma homocysteine based on single-column (reversed-phase) separation. Homocysteine, cysteine, and cysteinylglycine in plasma (total concentrations), acid-precipitated plasma (non-protein-bound concentrations), and urine can be determined. The derivatization and chromatography were performed automatically by a sample processor. The successful separation of all thiol species (within 15 min) was accomplished by accurate adjustment of the pH of the mobile phase to 3.65 (plasma) or 3.50 (acid-precipitated plasma, urine). Maximal fluorescence yield of cysteine, cysteinylglycine, and, to a lesser degree, homocysteine was dependent on optimal concentrations of EDTA and dithioerythritol during reduction (with NaBH4) and derivatization (with monobromobimane). The method is sensitive (detection limit approximately 0.05 pmol) and has a high degree of precision (CV < 5%). The sample output is approximately 70 samples in 24 h. Serum and heparin plasma can also be analyzed. Hemolysis up to approximately 2.0 g/L of hemoglobin did not interfere with the analytical recovery of homocysteine or cysteine. Collection of blood, separation of plasma from whole blood, and acid precipitation must be standardized to obtain reproducible thiol results. Our modifications and the standardization of blood-sampling procedures have substantially improved the method and broadened its applications.

The present investigation analyses the potentials of capillary chromatography using packed fused silica capillaries filled with 5 microns RP-18 for the fluorescence determination of glutathione in human blood samples. Adaptation of conventional HPLC equipment for miniaturized chromatographic assays proved successful. Sample preparation was relatively simple, though care should be taken in sample handling. The thiolic compound mercaptoethanol was used as internal standard. Qualitative determinations were based on standard addition providing increased peak heights at identical retention times. Quantitative determinations gave linear calibration curves, with a standard glutathione recovery of 98.9% and an intra-assay reproducibility of 3.3%. The glutathione values measured appeared within the normal range of 0.9-1.7 mmol glutathione per litre of blood.