Analysis of taurine in feline plasma and whole blood by liquid chromatography with fluorimetric detection and confirmation by thermospray mass spectrometry

A liquid chromatographic method with fluorimetric detection was developed to measure taurine (2-aminoethanesulfonic acid) in feline plasma and whole blood. Plasma or lysed whole blood was diluted with a mixture of acetonitrile-methanol-triethylamine-water (25:22:3:50, v/v), filtered through a 10,000 dalton exclusion filter and derivatized with dansyl chloride for 30 min at room temperature. Dansyl taurine was separated from other compounds by reversed-phase liquid chromatography using an octadecyl column and a methanol-acetic acid-triethylamine (30:0.5:0.025, v/v) aqueous mobile phase. The effluent was monitored fluorimetrically at an excitation wavelength of 329 nm and an emission wavelength of 530 nm. The presence of mono-dansylated taurine in feline plasma was confirmed by thermospray mass spectrometry. The limit of detection was 16 nmol/ml and the detector response was linear from 40 to 4000 nmol/ml taurine.