Determination of chemotherapeutic drugs in human urine by capillary electrophoresis with UV and fluorimetric detection using solid‐supported liquid–liquid extraction for sample clean‐up

Capillary electrophoresis was used for the rapid determination of three chemotherapeutic drugs employed to treat colorectal cancer: irinotecan, tegafur, and leucovorin, and their main metabolites (7‐ethyl‐10‐hydroxycamptothecin and 5‐fluorouracil), in human urine samples. A phosphate buffer (pH 11.34; 20 mM) was selected as the background electrolyte. A hydrodynamic injection (9 s, 30 mbar) was applied and the separation was carried out using a separation temperature and voltage of 25°C and 25 kV, respectively. A capillary with two detection windows for serial online UV and fluorescence detection was satisfactorily employed. A solid‐supported liquid–liquid extraction procedure was optimized for the clean‐up of the urine samples and the extraction of the analytes. Matrix effects were assessed and signal suppression was observed for three of the analytes, thus, matrix‐matched calibration was used for compensating residual matrix effects on these analytes. The proposed method allows the separation and quantification of the chemotherapeutics in less than 6 min. Detection limits range between 0.01 and 0.30 mg/L. The method was satisfactorily applied to the determination of the target compounds in human urine samples, with recoveries of 92.4–107.7%.     

Direct sample injection for capillary electrophoretic determination of organic acids in cerebrospinal fluid

Organic acids in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are potential diagnostic markers for neurological diseases and metabolic disorders. A capillary electrophoretic (CE) method for the direct analysis, i.e., without any sample preparation, of six organic acids in CSF was developed. A capillary coating consisting of a triple layer of charged polymers (polybrene-dextran sulfate-polybrene) was used in combination with a negative separation voltage, providing fast and efficient analysis of acidic compounds. Separation conditions, such as background electrolyte (BGE) concentration and pH were optimized, and the influence of albumin and sodium chloride was systematically studied using a set of test compounds. With injection volumes of ca. 44 nL, plate numbers of up to ca. 150,000 were obtained with a BGE of 200 mM sodium phosphate (pH 6.0). It appeared that high sodium chloride concentrations in the sample hardly affected the peak width and shape of the organic acids, most probably due to transient isotachophoresis effects occurring in the sample zone. Adverse effects of CSF proteins, which frequently compromise the CE performance, could be effectively minimized by the triple layer coating in combination with rinses of 0.1 M hydrochloric acid. Overall, the developed CE system allowed direct injections of CSF samples, yielding good separation efficiencies and stable migration times (RSDs < 2%) for organic acids. Validation of the method with artificial and real CSF samples showed good linear responses (r > 0.99), and LODs for the organic acids were in the range of 2–8 μg/mL when applying UV detection. RSDs for migration times and peak areas were <2% and <7%, respectively. The applicability of the CE system is shown for the determination of organic acids in CSF samples.     

Simultaneous determination of psychotropic drugs in human urine by capillary electrophoresis with electrochemiluminescence detection

Amitriptyline, doxepin and chlorpromazine are often used as psychotropic drugs in treatment of the various mental diseases, and are also partly excreted by kidney. This work developed a simple, selective and sensitive method for their simultaneous monitoring in human urine using capillary electrophoresis coupled with electrochemiluminescence (ECL) detection based on end-column ECL reaction of tris-(2,2′-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) with aliphatic tertiary amino moieties. Acetone was used as an additive to the running buffer to obtain their absolute separation. Under optimized conditions the proposed method displayed a linear range from 5.0 to 800 ng mL⁻¹ for the three drugs with the correlation coefficients more than 0.995 (n = 8). Their limits of detection were 0.8 ng mL⁻¹ (3.6 fg), 1.0 ng mL⁻¹ (4.5 fg) and 1.5 ng mL⁻¹ (6.8 fg) at a signal to noise ratio of 3, respectively. The relative standard deviations for five determinations of 20 ng mL⁻¹ amitriptyline, doxepin and chlorpromazine were 1.7%, 4.2% and 3.6%, respectively. For practical application an extract step with 90:10 heptane/ethyl acetate (v/v) was performed to eliminate the influence of ionic strength in sample. The recoveries of amitriptyline, doxepin and chlorpromazine at different levels in human urine were between 83% and 93%, which showed that the method was valuable in clinical and biochemical laboratories for monitoring amitriptyline, doxepin and chlorpromazine.     

Capillary zone electrophoretic determination of tosufloxacin and trovafloxacin in urine

Summary A simple and rapid capillary zone electrophoretic method with UV detection has been developed for determination of tosufloxacin and trovafloxacin. The separation was performed in fused-silica capillaries (57 cm length × 75μm i.d.); the running buffer was 35mm borate + 35mm phosphate buffer solution, pH 8.6, containing 6% (v/v) acetonitrile. The applied potential was 15 kV, the temperature 30°C, and detection was at 262 nm. Piromidic acid was used as the internal standard. Response was linearly dependent on concentration in the range 1.0–120.0 μg mL⁻¹ and the detection limit was 0.2 μg mL⁻¹ for both compounds. The analysis was highly reproducible (RSD between 3.41 and 1.25%). The method was applied to the determination of tosufloxacin and trovafloxacin in human and rat urine. The method was validated by using HPLC as a reference method. Recovery was between 96.8 and 102%.     

Capillary electrophoretic separation of toxic drugs using a polyacrylamide-coated capillary

Summary Capillary electrophoresis (CE) has recently become an attractive approach for the analysis of pharmaceuticals. In this study, capillary electrophoretic separation of anxiolytic drugs, including barbiturates and benzodiazepines, was carried out using polyacrylamide (PAA)-coated capillaries. The surface of the capillary inner wall was coated with a neutral layer, and separation was performed in the absence of electroosmotic flow (EOF). Both charged and neutral solutes were separated in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) above its critical micelle concentration (CMC) in the running buffer. This kind of CE method provided fast and efficient separation of a total of 24 kinds of toxic drugs in a mixture. In addition, the analysis of toxic drugs in body fluids was attempted after the sample preparation using liquid-liquid extraction or solid-phase microextraction (SPME).     

高效毛细管区带电泳法快速测定尿液中的肌酐

建立了一种快速测定尿中肌酐浓度的高效毛细管电泳方法。利用非涂层石英毛细管(64.5 cm×50μm i.d),以pH 2.5,0.1 mmol/L H3PO4作为电泳缓冲液,检测波长191 nm,用0.05 Pa压力进样4 s,在电压16 kV快速分离尿液中的肌酐,采用外标法定量。肌酐的迁移时间约为5.5 min,肌酐浓度在34.5~8840μmol/L范围内呈良好的线性(r2=0.999)。平均日内精密度为2.5%,日间精密度为3.0%。回收率94.1%~99.0%。与全自动生化分析仪碱性苦味酸速率法相比有良好的相关性(r=0.990,n=56)。高效毛细管电泳法测定尿肌酐可应用于临床样品的检测。     

Simultaneous determination of ethamsylate, tramadol and lidocaine in human urine by capillary electrophoresis with electrochemiluminescence detection

Ethamsylate, tramadol and lidocaine, partly excreted by the kidney, are generally used as hemostatic, analgesic and local anesthetic in surgery. We developed a simple and sensitive method for their simultaneous monitoring in human urine based on CE coupled with electrochemiluminescence detection by end-column mode. Under optimized conditions the proposed method yielded linear ranges from 5.0 x 10(-8) to 5.0 x 10(-5), 1.0 x 10(-7) to 1.0 x 10(-4) and 1.0 x 10(-7) to 1.0 x 10(-4) M with LODs of 8.0 x 10(-9) M (36 amol), 1.6 x 10(-8) M (72 amol) and 1.0 x 10(-8) M (45 amol) (S/N = 3) for ethamsylate, tramadol and lidocaine, respectively. The RSD for their simultaneous detection at 1.0 x 10(-6) M was 2.1, 2.8 and 3.2% (n = 7), respectively. For practical application an extraction step with ethyl acetate at pH 11 was performed to eliminate the influence of the sample ionic strength. The recoveries of ethamsylate, tramadol and lidocaine at different levels in human urine were between 87 and 95%. This method was used for simultaneous detection of ethamsylate, tramadol and lidocaine in clinic urine samples from two medicated patients. It was valuable in clinical and biochemical laboratories for monitoring these drugs for various purposes.     

Direct determination of bromide ions in seawater by capillary zone electrophoresis using polyethyleneimine-coated capillaries

A rapid and simple capillary electrophoretic method was developed for the direct determination of bromide ion in seawater. We have found an effective method, based on the use of polyethyleneimine-coated capillaries and the addition of sodium chloride to the background electrolyte. The use of coated capillaries with a cationic polymer changes the direction of the electroosmotic flow in the capillary, which favors the migration speed of the bromide ion and enables the use of low salt concentrations in the separation electrolyte. Bromide ion in seawater can be determined within 2 min using this system and 20 mmol L^-1 NaCl-containing separation electrolyte. The detection limit for the bromide ion was 0.45 g ml^-1. The method was applied to the determination of bromide ion in seawater samples collected from the Bosphorus and the Black Sea. Bromide contents in samples from 0 to 72 m depths varied between 33.2 and 72.8 mg L^-1 with a mean 3.0% RSD.     

Development and validation of a capillary electrophoretic method for the determination of amiodarone and desethylamiodarone

Summary A simple, sensitive and rapid capillary electrophoretic method has been developed for the separation and quantification of amiodarone and its metabolite, desethylamiodarone. The compounds were separated in a capillary of 45 cm effective length and 75 μm i.d., by use of an applied voltage of 25 kV and an electrolyte containing 15mm ADA buffer (pH 7.5), 10mm SDS, and 70% (v/v) acetonitrile. The selectivity, precision, linearity, range, sensitivity, and robustness of the method were good. The applicability of the assay was demonstrated by analyzing these drugs in serum. Electrokinetic injection with field-amplified sample-stacking was used to increase sensitivity. The limit of detection of the serum assay was 6.46 ng mL⁻¹ and the precision 3.7%.     

Separation and simultaneous determination of quinolone antibiotics by capillary zone electrophoresis

Summary The potential of capillary zone electrophoresis has been investigated for the separation and quantitative determination of some quinolone antibiotics. The influence of different conditions, such as the nature and concentration of the electrophoretic electrolyte, on migration time, peak symmetry, efficiency and resolution was studied. A buffer consisting of 100mm HEPES adjusted to pH 8.5 containing 10% (v/v) acetonitrile was found to furnish a very efficient and stable electrophoretic system for the separation of exoxacin, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, oxolinic acid, nalidixic acid and pipemedic acid. A linear relationship between concentration and peak area for each compound was obtained in the concentration range 0.25–40 μg mL⁻¹; detection limits were approximately 0.25 ng mL⁻¹. It was demonstrated that the method can be used for the simultaneous determination of these six antibiotics in serum and urine samples.     

Direct determination of sialic acids in serum by capillary electrophoresis with UV detection

Summary A novel method for the determination of N-acetylneuraminic acid (NANA) and N-glycolylneuraminic acid (NGNA) has been developed using high-performance capillary electrophoresis with UV detection at 195 nm, without pre or post-column derivatisation. The acids were separated in a 50-cm, fused-silica capillary (50μ i.d, 45.5-cm effective length) with Na₂B₄O₇−Na₂HPO₄ buffer. The detection limit for NANA is a concentration of 9.6×10⁻⁶ M or, in terms of mass:3.879×10⁻¹⁴ mol (39 fmol). This method is applicable to determination of NANA in normal human serum. The results were also compared with those of the colorimetrie method.     

Capillary electrophoretic determination of mercury compounds in different matrixes

Summary Capillary electrophoresis has been used to separate inorganic (Hg²⁺) and organic (methyl-, ethyl-, and phenylmercury) mercury compounds as their cysteine complexes. The optimized electrophoretic separation was performed in fused-silica capillary tubing at 25 kV with 25mm sodium borate buffer (pH 9.3). Identification and quantification of the mercury species at mg L⁻¹ levels was achieved by use of UV detection at 200 nm. The relative standard deviation (n=10) ranged from 0.38 to 0.51% for migration times and from 0.43 to 2.94% for corrected peak areas. Good recovery (>90%) was obtained for all four mercury species in surface waters, and for inorganic mercury and methylmercury in five- to tenfold diluted biofluids (urine, saliva, and cerebrospinal fluid). TheLOQ values obtained were too high to be useful for determination of mercury species in real samples. Presented at Balaton Symposium '01 on High-Performance Separation Methods, Siófok, Hungary, September 2–4, 2001     

On-line stacking and sweeping capillary electrophoresis for detecting heroin metabolites in human urine

Heroin metabolites including morphine, codeine, and 6-acetylmorphine were determined by cation-selective exhaustive injection and sweeping micellar electrokinetic chromatography (CSEI–sweep-MEKC). Liquid–liquid extraction was used for urine pretreatment. An uncoated fused silica capillary (Ld = 30 cm, 50 μm ID) was filled with phosphate buffer (50 mM, pH 2.5) containing 30% methanol, then high conductivity buffer (100 mM phosphate, 41.3 kPa for 18 s) was followed. Samples were injected electrokinetically (20 kV, 300 s). The sweeping and separation were performed at −25 kV using phosphate buffer (20 mM, pH 2.5) and 80 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate. The baseline separation was done within 10 min. During method validation, the calibration curves were linear over a range of 50–500 ng/mL (r ≧ 0.994). The RSD and RE values in intra-day and inter-day assays were all below 20%, which showed good precision and accuracy. Their detection limits were 10 ng/mL (S/N = 3). The optimized method was applied to determine real urine samples from addicts. These samples were confirmed by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry.     

High performance capillary electrophoresis method for determination of ibuprofen enantiomers in human serum and urine

A direct and stereospecific capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) method for quantification ibuprofen enantiomers in biological matrices: human serum and urine, has been developed. Chiral separation of the enantiomers of ibuprofen and (+)-S-indobufen [(+)-S-INDB, internal standard, IS] was obtained in an uncoated silica capillary filled with a background electrolyte (BGE), consisted of heptakis 2,3,6-tri-O-methyl-β-cyclodextrin (TM-β-CD) in buffer of pH 5.0. The complete enantioselective analysis of ibuprofen and its 1-hydroxy metabolite confirmed appropriate specificity of the method. The electrophoretic parameters: electroosmotic (μ_EOF) and electrophoretic (μ_ep) mobility and resolution factor (R_s) were determined. Extraction procedures with organic solvent and solid phase extraction (SPE) with C₁₈ stationary phase for isolation of enantiomers from biological fluids were compared. SPE method for further studies was chosen. Stereoselective extraction of IBP enantiomers from serum at basic pH has been discovered. Validation of the method was carried out. Calibration curves of ibuprofen enantiomers were linear in the range of 0.1-25.0 μg/ml in serum and of 0.5-250.0 μg/ml in urine. Recovery of both enantiomers from serum and urine amounted 74-86 and 90-98%, respectively. Intra- and inter-day measurement precision and accuracy were below 15%. Limits of detection for IBP enantiomers amounted 0.05 and 0.25 μg/ml in samples of serum and urine, respectively. Limit of quantitation was also estimated. IBP enantiomers proved to be stable following three freeze and thaw cycles and during storage in autosampler at ambient temperature. The validated methods enable pharmacokinetic studies of enantiomers in both media. The elaborated HPCE method can be alternative to HPLC.     

Characterization of antithrombin III from human plasma by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and capillary electrophoretic methods

The isoforms distribution of the glycoprotein antithrombin III (ATIII) derived from human plasma was investigated by means of isoelectric focusing (IEF) in polyacrylamide gels with immobilized pH gradients (IPG) and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) as well as capillary electrophoretic methods. It turned out that the presence of high concentrations of chaotropics (urea, thiourea) and zwitterionic detergents (3-[(3-cholamidepropyl)dimethylammonio]-1-propanesulfonate (CHAPS)) was decisive for attaining good resolution of the protein isoforms. Resolution by IPG-IEF was obtained with excellent reproducibility and pI differences down to 0.01 pH units could be distinguished. ATIII-alpha and ATIII-beta-fractions preseparated by heparin affinity chromatography showed an analogous but shifted spot pattern consisting each of one major and three minor isoforms. The main isoforms of ATIII-alpha and ATIII-beta exhibit pI values of 5.18 and 5.32, respectively, both values determined in the presence of high concentrations of urea. The pI difference of 0.14 pH units correspond to the effect of two sialic acids absent in ATIII-beta. The formation and occurrence of ATIII dimers and trimers turned out to be dependent on the sample preparation. The results obtained by 2-DE were compared with those of capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and capillary IEF (CIEF). Quantitative analysis regarding the CZE separated isoforms of plasma derived ATIII yielded a content of about 70% ATIII-alpha main isoform and about 6.6% of ATIII-beta. The pI values of ATIII determined by CIEF with internal calibration were in fair agreement with the pI values of the main isoforms achieved with 2-DE.     

A novel capillary electrophoretic method for determining methylglyoxal and glyoxal in urine and water samples

Two non-electroactive biomarkers methylglyoxal (MGo) and glyoxal (Go) in urine and environmental water samples were determined for the first time by capillary electrophoresis with amperometric detection (CE-AD) after derivatizing with an electroactive compound 2-thiobarbituric acid. Experimental conditions of derivatization and CE-AD detection were optimized. Highly linear response was obtained for these two biomarkers over three orders of magnitude with good correlation (r² > 0.999). The limits of detection (LODs) and limits of quantitation (LOQs) of MGo and Go were 0.2 μg L⁻¹ and 1.0 μg L⁻¹, 0.5 μg L⁻¹ and 2.0 μg L⁻¹, respectively. The average recovery and relative standard deviation (RSD) were within the range of 90.9–101.3% and 0.7–2.2%, respectively. The proposed CE-AD method provides a reliable and sensitive quantitative evaluation of MGo and Go in real sample matrices by employing relatively simple and inexpensive instrument.     

Determination of tetracyclines in human urine samples by capillary electrophoresis in combination with field amplified sample injection

A sensitive method using CZE‐UV detection has been developed for the determination of five tetracycline antibiotics in human urine samples. To improve the sensitivity of the method, an on‐line preconcentration strategy, named field‐amplified sample injection, has been developed, based on the electrokinetic injection of the sample, which requires only a 1:100 dilution with sample solvent before injection. Under optimum conditions, sensitivity enhancement factors ranged from 450 to 800 for the studied compounds. The applicability of the proposed method was demonstrated by the determination of these antibiotics in spiked urine samples. The limits of quantification were lower than 0.8 mg/L and the precision (intra‐ and inter‐day), expressed as %RSD was below 14%. Recoveries ranged from 92.1 to 96.7%. Thus, the proposed procedure is a simple, fast and efficient strategy which could be used as therapeutic drug monitoring in human urine samples.     

Recent advances in capillary electrophoretic analysis of individual cells

Because variability exists within populations of cells, single-cell analysis has become increasingly important for probing complex cellular environments. Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is an excellent technique for identifying and quantifying the contents of single cells owing to its small volume requirements and fast, efficient separations with highly sensitive detection. Recent progress in both whole-cell and subcellular sampling has allowed researchers to study cellular function in the areas of neuroscience, oncology, enzymology, immunology, and gene expression.      

Rapid capillary electrophoretic determination of glutaraldehyde in photographic developers using a cationic polymer coating

A new capillary electrophoretic (CE) method was developed for the rapid and simple determination of glutaraldehyde in photographic developing solutions. The proposed system is based on the selective pre-capillary derivatization of glutaraldehyde with sulfite and CE determination of anionic glutaraldehyde-bisulfite adduct formed. Since the developing solutions contain large amounts of sulfite ions, the only procedure required for derivatization is a dilution of the sample with carrier electrolyte. For separations of sulfite, acetate, glutaraldehyde-bisulfite and hydroquinone sulfonate anions, capillaries coated with poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) prior to analysis were used. Separation of four anions was accomplished in less than 3 min in 5 mmol l⁻¹p-hydroxybenzoate-imidazole (p-HB) electrolyte at pH 6.0 using indirect UV detection at 254 nm. The optimal conditions for the derivatization reaction were established by varying concentration of sulfite, pH and reaction time. The recovery tests established for photographic developer samples were within the range 94.0-98.4%.