High performance liquid chromatographic determination of homocysteine and cystathionine in biological samples by derivatization with 6-aminoquinolyl-N-hydroxylsuccinimidyl carbamate (AQC)

Abstract

The AQC has been used for the derivatization of primary and secondary amino acids to yield fluorescent derivatives with high sensitivity. The AQC precolumn method was applied to analyze the amino acids using florescent detector for tissue and blood samples of chickens. A new HPLC method was developed to measure the concentrations of homocysteine (Hcy) and cystathionine (Cysta) in biological samples by using AQC method. The averaged total concentrations of Hcy were obtained as 9.66, 4.66, and 7.77 nmol/g in liver, breast and blood samples of chicken, respectively. Also, the averaged values of Cysta concentrations were obtained as 15.93, 2.55, and 8.08 nmol/g in liver, breast, and blood samples, respectively. The AQC method was rapid and easy to measure the concentrations of amino acids, Hcy and Cysta in biological samples.