Improved method for the determination of kynurenic acid in rat plasma by column-switching HPLC with post-column fluorescence detection

Kynurenic acid (KYNA), an endogenous antagonist of ionotropic glutamate and α7 nicotinic receptors, was fluorometrically determined by column-switching high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection. The HPLC system consists of two octadecyl silica (ODS) columns, both of which are connected with an anion-exchange column (trapping column). Following sample injection onto the HPLC column, KYNA was separated on the first ODS column with a mobile phase of H₂O/acetonitrile (95/5) containing 0.1% acetic acid. The peak fraction of KYNA was trapped on the anion-exchange column by changing the position of a six-port valve and then introduced into the second ODS column. Subsequently, KYNA was detected fluorometrically as a fluorescence complex formed with zinc ion which was pumped constantly. Instrumental limit of detection was approximately 0.16 nM, which corresponded to 8.0 fmol (per 50 μl injection, signal to noise ratio 3), and the limit of quantification was 0.53 nM (signal to noise ratio 10). Intra- and inter-day relative standard deviations were 1.1-3.9% (n = 3) and 3.0-5.3% (n = 3), respectively. The peak of KYNA in rat plasma was clearly detected by the proposed column-switching HPLC system after a facile pretreatment procedure. Intra- and inter-day relative mean errors were −1.6-1.4% (n = 3) and −2.4 to −0.4% (n = 3), respectively, with a satisfactory precision (within 5.0%). A calibration curve for the determination of KYNA showed a good linearity (r² > 0.999) in the range of 25-200 nM. The KYNA concentrations in the plasma of male Sprague-Dawley rats (8-week-old) were 44 ± 5.5 nM (mean ± S.E., n = 5). In ketamine-treated rats, which are animal models of schizophrenia, the plasma KYNA concentrations were significantly increased compared with those in the control rats (p < 0.05).     

A Novel Simplified Column-Switching Technique for the Determination of Traces of Bromate in High Concentration Matrices

The column-switching technique has been widely used to determine trace level ions in the presence of high concentration matrix. A novel simplified column-switching method is proposed where bromate (as a model compound) was determined using this technique. The switching time window was confirmed by the retention time of determined ions. This technique can completely carry out the same function as the other column-switching technique do, but only one extra ten-way injection valve coupled to ion chromatograph was used. By using column-switching technique, it is possible to determine 0.2 μg L⁻¹ bromate in the presence of 100 mg L⁻¹ chloride by direct injection of 2000 μL without any pretreatment and the relative standard deviation (RSD) of the peak height for the eleven successive injections of 0.2 μg L⁻¹ bromate solution is 23.1%. The detection limit for bromate is 0.09 μg L⁻¹, which showed the method was very sensitive. The technique has been applied to the determination of bromate in drinking water, and the spike recovery is in the range of 96–104%.     

Surface modification by calcium ions—Effect on chromatographic properties of silica

Summary A liquid chromatographic method incorporating column-switching and fluorimetric detection for the determination of triamterene in untreated urine, is described. The urine samples (5 L) were directly introduced onto an Hypersil ODS-C18, 30 m (20 mm×2.1 mm I.D.) pre-column. Polar urinary compounds were removed by flushing the pre-column with water for 1 min, and the analyte was then switched onto an HP-LiChrospher RP C18,5 m (125 mm×4mm ID) analytical column using an acetonitrile/phosphate buffer gradient elution. Fluorescence detection was performed at 230 nm excitation and 430 nm emission wavelengths. The recovery of drug was 102±2% in the 0.10–20.0 g/mL concentration range, the limit of detection being 5 ng/mL. A validation of the usefulness of this procedure was accomplished by analysing urine extracts obtained from real samples.Hypersil ODS is not a product of Merck, Germany. Please give supplier (p. 5).     

柱切换离子色谱法测定丙酮中痕量阴离子

建立了测定丙酮中痕量阴离子的离子色谱分析方法.采用的是高效液相柱切换进样,其中泵的流速为0.5 mL/min,使低浓度的丙酮水溶液在保护柱上富集,通过离子色谱抑制电导法分离和检测丙酮样品中痕量的阴离子.色谱条件为:以IonPacAG9-HC(50 mm×2 mm)型柱串联在定量环中进行富集,IonPacAG9-HC(50 mm×2 mm)保护柱,IonPac AS9-HC(250 mm×2 mm)阴离子分离柱进行分离,流动相为9 mmol/L Na2CO3-1.667 mol/L NaHCO3,所得回收率在96.21%～101.56%之间,线性良好,且具有较好的重现性和较低的检出限.     

Simultaneous determination of ursodeoxycholic acid and its glycine-conjugate in serum as phenacyl esters using multidimensional liquid chromatography

Summary A narrowbore high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method using column switching is described for the simultaneous determination of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) and glyco-UDCA (GUDCA) from serum samples as their phenacyl esters. Serum samples were subjected to a preliminary clean-up using octadecylsilane reversed-phase extraction and derivatized with phenacylbromide. The purification, fractionation and concentration of UDCA and GUDCA from the esterified serum sample were performed on-line by appropriate switching of columns. Limit of detection (LOD) of UDCA and GUDCA were 5 ng and the absolute mean recoveries averaged 84.4±8.2% and 85.2±8.4%, respectively. This method was successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic study of UDCA in rats and human.     

High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of meropenem in rat plasma using column-switching

Summary The purpose of this study was to develop a columnswitching HPLC method for the determination of meropenem in plasma. This method showed excellent precision and accuracy with good sensitivity and speed. The total analysis time per sample was less than 20 min and the mean coefficients of variation for intra- and inter-assay were less than 4.0%. The method has been successfully applied to plasma samples from rats receiving an intraperitoneal injection of meropenem.     

Column-switching reversed phase-hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry method for determination of free estrogens and their conjugates in river water

We report a column-switching liquid chromatography (LC) tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) method for highly sensitive determination of both free estrogens (estrone, estradiol, and estriol) and their conjugates (estrone-3-sulfate, estradiol-3-sulfate, estriol-3-sulfate, estrone-3-glucuronide, estradiol-3-glucuronide, estriol-16-glucuronide, and estriol-3-glucuronide) in river water. This technique combines reversed phase (RP) chromatographic separation of the dansyl chloride derivatized free estrogens and hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatographic (HILIC) separation of the estrogen conjugates with multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). Using this new method, sensitivity increases 100- to 1000-fold for free estrogens and 2- to 10-fold for estrogen conjugates over RPLC-MS/MS alone. Method detection limits (MDL) range from 0.038 to 6.9 ng L⁻¹ with accuracy of 68-105% and precision of 1.7-17%. We successfully used this method to analyze river water samples collected from the North Saskatchewan River at the same location and detected trace concentrations of estrone (0.042 ng L⁻¹) and estrone-3-sulfate (0.84 ng L⁻¹), demonstrating the application of this method for environmental analysis.     

Comprehensive high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the measurements of lipophilic antioxidants in human plasma

Owing to the increasing interest in the health effects of antioxidant micronutrients on chronic diseases, a robust and rapid HPLC method for simultaneous measurement of coenzyme Q₁₀ (ubiquinone and ubiquinol), vitamin A (all-trans-retinol), vitamin E (tocopherols and tocotrienols) and carotenoids (lutein, zeaxanthin, β-cryptoxanthin, lycopene and β-carotene) was developed. Sample preparation and analytical conditions that would affect solubility and stability of these antioxidants were investigated and optimized. The mobile phase used was made up of acetonitrile, methanol, ethanol and tert-butanol without corrosive additives such as ammonium perchlorate and perchloric acid. Our results show that using two C₁₈ columns coupled with photodiode array, fluorescence and electrochemical detection, a comprehensive spectrum of 16 lipid-soluble antioxidants in 30 μL of plasma could be separated and quantified within 30 min. The chromatographic run time was about 3-fold faster and the sample size was about 5-fold smaller than when assays were performed separately using existing methods. The present method will be useful for dietary habit studies and for antioxidant status investigations.     

Ultrasound-assisted micellar cleanup coupled with large-volume-injection enrichment for the analysis of polar drugs in blood and zebrafish samples

A novel ultrasound-assisted micellar cleanup strategy (UAMC) coupled with large volume injection (LVI) high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was proposed and successfully applied to the analysis of cefathiamidine in complex biological samples such as whole blood, plasma, serum and even zebrafish, a challenging positive real sample. Based on the micelle-biomacromolecule interaction, the phase-separation feature of surfactant micelles and ultrasound cavitation, UAMC possessed an impressive matrix cleanup capability and could rapidly reach distribution equilibrium (approximately 2 min), which enabled simultaneous sample cleanup and analyte extraction within 8 min. Due to the high cleanup efficiency of UAMC, large volume of pretreated samples could be injected for analysis without peak broadening, impurity interference and column degradation. Thus, online analyte enrichment could be automatically performed to significantly improve method sensitivity by the column-switching LVI-HPLC system, a commercial HPLC system with small modifications. The UAMC-LVI-HPLC method creatively integrated sample cleanup, analyte extraction and on-column enrichment into simple operation. In addition, the UAMC-LVI-HPLC method enabled non-matrix-matched analysis of cefathiamidine in complex biological samples. This feature was helpful to address the problems caused by conventional matrix-matched or internal standard calibration methods, such as matrix bias, increased workload, limited availability of suitable blank matrices and the use of expensive internal standards. The method had low limits of detections (e.g., 0.0051 mg/L and 0.038 μg/g), wide linear ranges (0.030–100 mg/L and 0.15–489 μg/g), good linear correlation (R² = 0.9999), satisfactory accuracy (97.6–109.7%) and excellent intra- and interday precision (0.5–4.9%). Thus, UAMC-LVI-HPLC is expected to be a promising candidate for bioanalysis in therapeutic drug monitoring or pharmacokinetic and toxicology studies in the future.     

Determination of trace inorganic anions in anionic surfactants by single-pump column-switching ion chromatography

An ion chromatography method has been proposed for the determination of three common inorganic anions(chloride,nitrate and sulfate) in anionic surfactants using a single pump system.The new system consists of an ion exclusion column,a concentrator column,and an anion exchange column connected in series via two 6-ports valves in a Dionex ICS-2000 ion chromatograph.The valves were switched several times for removing surfactants,concentrating and separating the three anions.The chromatographic conditions were optimized.Detection limits(S/N = 3) were in the range of 0.10-0.68μg/L.The relative standard deviations(RSDs) of peak area were less than 4.6%.The recoveries were in the range of 84.1-112.6%.