Paweł Kubalczyk

Urinary excretion measurement of cysteine and homocysteine in the form of their S-pyridinium derivatives by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection

Several human diseases, in particular metabolic disorders, often lead to the accumulation of characteristic metabolites in plasma, urine and cells. The selected diseases of this type include cystinuria and homocystinuria. In the typical laboratory diagnosis of these two diseases, a positive nitroprusside test is followed by quantitative analysis of urine cysteine and homocysteine in order to differentiate between cystinuria and homocystinuria. A sensitive and reproducible assay for total urine cysteine and homocysteine has been developed. The essential steps in the assay include conversion of disulphides to free thiols with tributylphosphine, conjugation of the thiols with 2-chloro-1-methyl pyridinium iodide, separation of S-pyridinium derivatives of cysteine and homocysteine from other endogenous urine thiol derivatives by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, and detection and quantitation by spectrophotometry. The method has a sensitivity of 4 pmol and is reproducible, intra- and inter-day coefficients of variation are from 1.37 to 4.14% and from 2.38 to 5.01%, respectively. The mean concentration of total urine cysteine and homocysteine in healthy donors (7 men and 7 women) were for women. 92.0 +/- 45.8 and 16.4 +/- 4.8 respectively, and for men 120.9 +/- 46.6 and 21.5 +/- 7.4 nmol/ml, respectively. Total urine homocysteine represents approximately 17.7% of cysteine in the urine of normal individuals.

Ultraviolet derivatization of low-molecular-mass thiols for high performance liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis analysis.

Thiols play an important role in metabolic processes of all living creatures and their analytical control is very important in order to understand their physiological and pathological function. Among a variety of methods available to measure thiol concentrations, chemical derivatization utilizing a suitable labeling reagent followed by liquid chromatographic or electrophoretic separation is the most reliable means for sensitive and specific determination of thiol compounds in real world samples. Ultraviolet detection is, for its simplicity, commonly used technique in liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis, and consequently many ultraviolet derivatization reagents are in used. This review summarizes HPLC and CE ultraviolet derivatization based methods, including pre-analytical considerations, procedures for sample reduction, derivatization, and separation of the primary biological aminothiols--cysteine, homocysteine, cysteinylglycine and glutathione, and most important thiol-drugs in pharmaceutical formulations and biological samples. Cognizance of the biochemistry involved in the formation of the analytes is taken.

Analysis of orange juice for total cysteine and glutathione content by CZE with UV-absorption detection.

For total content of cysteine (Cys) and glutathione (GSH) a sample (500 μL) of neat orange juice or commercially available soft drinks is treated according to the procedure consisted of four essential steps: reduction of disulfide forms of the analytes to their thiol counterparts with Tris 2‐carboxyethylphosphine, derivatization of thiols to their S‐quinolinium derivatives with 2‐chloro‐1‐methylquinolinium tetrafluroborate, separation of so‐formed derivatives by capillary zone electrophoresis with ACN stacking, and detection and quantitation with the use of ultraviolet detector at 355 nm. Commercially available bare fused‐silica capillary served as the CE column. The method is linear in a wide range of concentrations covering practical application. The coefficient of correlation between analyte concentrations within the range from 2.5 to 30.0 μmol/L and the detector response was for Cys and GSH 0.998 and 0.997, respectively. The imprecision for above‐mentioned range was between 6.7 and 3.8, and 3.6 and 1.1% RSD for Cys and GSH, respectively. The method was applied to several samples of fresh juices and commercial orange beverages.

Determination of cysteine and glutathione in cucumber leaves by HPLC with UV detection

Cysteine (Cys) and glutathione (GSH) have been identified as key players in redox-based defense and signaling under stress in plants. Here, we describe a new high-performance liquid chromatography assay for the determination of four different forms of Cys and GSH, based on reduction of disulfide bonds with tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine followed by derivatization with 2-chloro-1-methylquinolinium tetrafluoroborate and UV detection. The presented method allows facile determination of total, reduced, free and protein bound aminothiols in cucumber leaves. Via this simple yet efficient method very good precision as well as accuracy were obtained. Linearity in detector response was observed over the range of 5–100 μmol L−1 for GSH and 1–20 μmol L−1 for Cys. The LOQs for GSH and Cys were 5 μmol L−1 and 1 μmol L−1 homogenate of cucumber leaf, respectively.

Method for determination of total cysteamine in human plasma by high performance capillary electrophoresis with acetonitrile stacking

An analytical procedure enabling routine analysis of human plasma for total cysteamine (CASH) has been developed and validated. The method includes reduction of CASH disulfides to thiol with tri‐n‐butylphosphine, derivatization of the thiol with 2‐chloro‐1‐methylquinolinium tetrafluoroborate, separation of CASH 2‐S‐quinolinium derivate from those of plasma endo‐ and exogenous thiol derivatives by capillary zone electrophoresis based on acetonitrile stacking and quantitation with the use of ultraviolet detection. A large volume of sample is injected to achieve analyte concentration directly on the capillary, according to the transient pseudo‐isotachophoresis principle, before the separation step takes place. Method performance characteristics, for example recovery, calibration, precision, limit of detection and limit of quantitation are presented. The procedure was applied to analysis of plasma samples donated by apparently healthy volunteers spiked with known amounts of cystamine standard solution.

Simultaneous determination of total homocysteine and cysteine in human plasma by capillary zone electrophoresis with pH-mediated sample stacking

An accurate, simple and sensitive method for simultaneous determination of total homocysteine (Hcy) and total cysteine (Cys) in human plasma has been developed and validated. Hcy and Cys play a major role in metabolism and cellular homeostasis. An elevated level of plasma Hcy is considered an important risk factor or marker for several diseases, in particular cardiovascular disease, while Cys is involved in a variety of important cellular functions such as protein synthesis, detoxification and metabolism. The proposed analytical procedure consists of reduction of title thiol dimers and unsymmetrical disulfides with tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine, and derivatization with 2-chloro-1-methylquinolinium tetrafluoroborate (CMQT) followed by pH-mediated stacking capillary electrophoresis separation and ultraviolet-absorbance detection of Hcy-CMQT and Cys-CMQT derivatives at 355 nm. Effective baseline electrophoretic separation was achieved using a standard fused-silica capillary (effective length 91.5 cm, 75 μm id) and 0.1 mol L−1, lithium acetate buffer adjusted to pH 4.75. The limit of quantification (signal to noise ratio of 9) for derivatized Hcy and Cys in plasma was 2 μmol L−1. The calibration curves obtained for Hcy and Cys in plasma showed linearity in the range 2–20 μmol L−1, with R2 = 0.9986 and 20–300 μmol L−1, with R2 = 0.9998, respectively. The relative standard deviation of the points of the calibration curve was lower than 7%. The method can be used for a routine monitoring of total Hcy and total Cys levels in plasma of human subjects.

Determination of homocysteine thiolactone in urine by field amplified sample injection and sweeping MEKC method with UV detection.

Homocysteine thiolactone (Hcy-thiolactone), an intramolecular thioester, easily acylates free-amino groups in proteins, which impairs or alters the proteins biological function. Here, we describe new capillary electrophoresis assay for the determination of Hcy-thiolactone in human urine based on a field amplified sample injection and sweeping MEKC with UV detection. The two steps procedure relies on sample liquid-liquid extraction followed by CE separation and UV detection at 240nm. The Hcy-thiolactone standard added to the urine before the extraction step shows that the response of the detector is linear within the range studied, from 0.1 to 1μmolL(-1) urine. The intra- and interday precision and recovery were 3.2-14.4% (average 5.1% and 9.3%) and 92.5-112.6% (average 99.8% and 99.1%), respectively. The lower limit of quantification was 0.09nmol Hcy-thiolactone in 1mL of urine. The proposed method was applied for the analysis of 15 urine samples donated by apparently healthy volunteers. The average concentration of the analyte was 0.170±0.029μmolL(-1).

A versatile method for analysis of saliva, plasma and urine for total thiols using HPLC with UV detection

A simple and rapid HPLC method using 2-chloro-1-methyllepidinium tetrafluoroborate (CMLT) as a derivatization reagent was developed for simultaneous determination of homocysteine (Hcy), glutathione (GSH), γ-glutamylcysteine (γ-GluCys), cysteinylglycine (CysGly), N-acetylcysteine (NACys) and cysteine (Cys) in human saliva, plasma and urine. Separation of the analytes was achieved in just 7min using an HPLC, followed by UV detection at 355nm. Chromatographic separation was accomplished on Aeris PEPTIDE XB-C18 (150mm×4.6mm, 3.6µm) column from Phenomenex with a gradient elution: 0-4.0min, 7-30% B; 4.0-5.5min, 30-7% B; 5.5-7.5min, 7% B; (A: B, v/v); (A) 0.5% CH3COOH and (B) EtOH. Mobile phase was delivered at a flow rate 1.0mLmin(-1). Linearity in detector response for total thiols was observed over the range of 0.1-20μmolL(-1) for Hcy, GSH and γ-GluCys, 0.25-50μmolL(-1) for NACys and CysGly and 5-300 for Cys. The LOQ values for Hcy, GSH, γ-GluCys, NACys, CysGly and Cys were 0.05, 0.05, 0.10, 0.06, 0.12 and 0.08μmolL(-1), respectively. The method was successfully implemented to analysis of the samples donated by 15 apparently healthy volunteers and 10 patients.

Simultaneous determination of albumin and low-molecular-mass thiols in plasma by HPLC with UV detection

In this paper, we describe a simple and robust HPLC based method for determination of total low- and high-molecular-mass thiols, protein S-linked thiols and reduced albumin in plasma. The method is based on derivatization of analytes with 2-chloro-1-methylquinolinium tetrafluoroborate, separation and quantification by reversed-phase liquid chromatography followed by UV detection. Disulfides were converted to their thiol counterparts by reductive cleavage with tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine. Linearity in detector response for total thiols was observed over the range of 1-40 μmol L(-1) for Hcy and glutathione (GSH), 5-100 μmol L(-1) for Cys-Gly, 20-300 μmol L(-1) for Cys and 3.1-37.5 μmol L(-1) (0.2-2.4gL(-1)) for human serum albumin (HSA). For the protein S-bound forms these values were as follows: 0.5-30 μmol L(-1) for Hcy and GSH, 2.5-60 μmol L(-1) for Cys-Gly and 5-200 μmol L(-1) for Cys. The LOQs for total HSA, Cys, Hcy, Cys-Gly and GSH were 0.5, 0.2, 0.4, 0.3 and 0.4 μmol L(-1), respectively. The estimated validation parameters for all analytes are more than sufficient to allow the analytical method to be used for monitoring of the total and protein bound thiols as well as redox status of HSA in plasma.

Simple micellar electrokinetic chromatography method for the determination of hydrogen sulfide in hen tissues

A new method for the determination of hydrogen sulfide in hen tissues has been developed and validated. For estimation of hydrogen sulfide content, a sample (0.1 g) of hen tissue was treated according to the procedure consisted of some essential steps: simultaneous homogenization of a tissue and derivatization of hydrogen sulfide to its S‐quinolinium derivative with 2‐chloro‐1‐methylquinolinium tetrafluoroborate, separation of so‐formed derivative by micellar electrokinetic chromatography with sweeping, and detection and quantitation with the use of UV detector set to measure analytical signals at 375 nm. Effective electrophoretic separation was achieved using fused silica capillary (effective length 41.5 cm, 75 μm id) and 0.05 mol/L, pH 8 phosphate buffer with the addition of 0.04 mol/L SDS and 26% ACN. The lower limit of quantification was 0.12 μmol hydrogen sulfide in 1 g of tissue. The calibration curve prepared in tissue homogenate for hydrogen sulfide showed linearity in the range from 0.15 to 2.0 μmol/g, with the coefficient of correlation 0.9978. The relative standard deviation of the points of the calibration curve varied from 8.3 to 3.2% RSD.