Sequential Determination of Inorganic Cations and Anions in Cerebrospinal Fluid by Microchip Electrophoresis

Analysis of inorganic ions in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is used mainly in the diagnostics of central nervous system diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease or multiple sclerosis. A new analytical method for fast determination of inorganic cations (ammonium, calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium) and anions (chloride, sulfate, nitrite and nitrate) in CSF on an electrophoretic microchip was developed in this context. Zone electrophoresis (ZE) separations were performed on the microchip with coupled channels (CC) and contact conductivity detection. Two different propionate background electrolytes were used for the sequential determination of cations at pH 3.1 and anions at pH 4.3. ZE was used for the determination of cationic constituents while ZE–ZE approach was employed for the determination of chloride in the first separation channel on the CC microchip and other anionic micro-constituents in the second channel. LOD values were in the range of 0.003–0.012 mg L⁻¹ and 0.019–0.047 mg L⁻¹ for cations and anions, respectively. Repeatability of migration time was up to 1.2 % for both cations and anions. Repeatability of peak area ranged from 0.3 to 5.6 % for cations and from 0.6 to 6.0 % for anions. Recovery of both cations and anions was in the range 90–106 %. CSF samples were only diluted appropriately without other sample pretreatment prior to analysis. Developed sequential method is suitable for fast determination of the studied cations and anions in CSF with total analysis time <15 min.