Rapid determination of creatinine in serum and urine by ion-pair high-performance liquid chromatography

We report a simple and reliable high performance liquid chromatography method for measuring creatinine in serum and urine. The chromatographic run is performed on a C(18) column after protein precipitation with acetone and addition of cimetidine as an internal standard. The separation is carried out in 20 min at a flow rate of 0.8 ml/min, with a mobile phase consisting of 100 mmol/l sodium dihydrogen phosphate solution, containing 30 mmol/l sodium lauryl sulfate pH 3.0 and acetonitrile (60:36, v/v). The absorbance is monitored at 200 nm. The relationship between creatinine concentration and the creatinine/internal standard peak area is linear up to 1,088 micromol/l. Within-run precision measured at three different creatinine concentrations ranges from 0.89% to 2.34% in serum and from 0.34% to 1.10% in urine. Between-run precision varies from 1.68% to 3.17% in serum and from 1.58% to 1.85% in urine over a wide range of concentrations. Analytical recovery is between 98.71% and 101.25% in serum and between 98.96% and 100.27% in urine. The detection limit is 3.24 micromol/l for a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. The method shows a good linearity with the reference isotope dilution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry procedure (r=0.999), without interferences, even in the presence of high bilirubin concentrations.

Separation and determination of amino acids, creatinine, bioactive amines and nucleic acid bases by dual-mode gradient ion-pair chromatography

A simple and fast high-performance liquid chromatography method for the analysis of amino acids and biological bases such as creatinine was developed using a technique termed "dual-mode gradient ion-pair chromatography". A butyl-silica reversed-phase column and water-acetonitrile eluent containing sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and perchloric acid were used for the separation. A concentration gradient of acetonitrile from 15 to 35% provided a good separation of such organic cations. Since change in concentration of acetonitrile causes change in distribution equilibrium of SDS between mobile and stationary phases, a complete regeneration of the column to the initial state is required for the reproducible separations. Completion of the reequilibrium was indicated by a system peak appearing in the UV chromatogram and by conductivity measurements. The formation mechanism of the system peak was revealed. A flow-rate gradient from 1 to 2 ml/min was introduced in addition to the concentration gradient to shorten the cycle time of the chromatography. More than twenty kinds of amino acids, creatine and creatinine were simultaneously separated within 50 min and the cycle time was 80 min including the reequilibration time. A post-column derivatization fluorescence detection system was usable as well as UV detection. This elution system was also useful for the separation of bioactive amines and nucleic acid bases. The developed method was applied to the simultaneous determination of urinary creatinine and diagnostic amino acids due to inherited metabolic disorders.

Validation of the ultrafiltration technique for creatinine analysis by HPLC: a comparison with direct serum injection

The determination of creatinine by HPLC was performed by direct injection of serum onto the column, and after ultrafiltration of the sample, and the results were compared. A modified weak cation exchange column was used for HPLC. This eliminates the protein displacement effect and the Gibbs-Donnan effect, thus permitting a rapid direct analysis. Three of the four ultrafiltration methods gave almost identical analytical results. Regression analyses of the results from direct serum injection versus ultrafiltration showed a bias of 5% on the slope y = 1.050 . xpure serum + 1.856, which was in our view solely due to the volume displacement effect of the proteins; correction of each data point by a protein-dependent correction factor resulted in an almost perfect regression line.

Determination of creatinine and ultraviolet-absorbing amino acids and organic acids in urine by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography

A simple and reliable method for the determination of urinary creatinine, amino acids and organic acids was developed. A urine sample was preliminarily separated into an organic acid fraction (including neutral species) and an amino acid fraction by cation-exchange chromatography. Both fractions were analysed by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, with a phosphoric acid-methanol gradient elution system and ultraviolet detection at 210 nm. Relationships between concentrations and peak heights were linear from 2 to 500 microM for the analytes. Overall recoveries were ca. 100%. The concentrations of creatinine for 37 urine samples, from 20 healthy newborns and from 17 patients with several inherited metabolic disorders, were 2.35 +/- 2.29 mM (ranging between 0.27 and 10.15 mM). The method was applied to the determination of several diagnostically useful metabolites in urine. The concentrations of phenylalanine and phenylacetic acid for five urine samples from patients with phenylketonuria were 347 +/- 177 and 282 +/- 224 microM/mM creatinine, respectively. The concentrations of tyrosine and 4-hydroxyphenyllactic acid in the urine of a patient with tyrosinemia were 112 and 1871 microM/mM creatinine, respectively.

Simultaneous determination of urinary creatinine and aromatic amino acids by cation-exchange chromatography with ultraviolet detection

A cation-exchange chromatographic procedure for the simultaneous determination of urinary creatinine and aromatic amino acids is described. Creatinine and amino acids were separated from organic acids and/or neutral species in urine by using a preparative cation-exchange resin column. A column packed with a cation-exchange resin of low capacity was used for the analytical separations. The elution of creatinine and aromatic amino acids was monitored at 210 nm by means of an ultraviolet detector. The relationships between concentration and peak heights were reproducible with a coefficient of variation of less than 2%, and were linear from 5 to 200 microM for each compound. Overall recoveries of the analytes were more than 95%. The method was applied to the analysis of urine of patients with disorders of amino acid metabolism, such as phenylketonuria. The concentration ratios of phenylalanine to creatinine in the patients' urine were accurately and easily determined, and were quite different from those in the urine of healthy newborns.

An improved cation exchange HPLC method for the measurement of serum creatinine

An improved HPLC method for the measurement of serum creatinine is described. Separation is effected using a strong cation exchange column at pH 4.7. Analytical recovery, precision and linearity are satisfactory, and the method correlates well with a kinetic Jaffé procedure. The method provides a means of accurately measuring creatinine and may be of use in the investigation of interference in creatinine assays.

Determination of creatinine in serum by high-performance liquid chromatography: a comparison of three ion-exchange methods

Three ion-exchange high-performance liquid chromatographic methods for the determination of creatinine in serum have been compared. In method 1 a strong cation exchanger was used. In method 2 a reversed-phase column was given strong cation-exchange properties by the addition of N-methyloleoyl taurate to the mobile phase. In method 3 a weak cation exchanger was used. Elution was with a pH gradient in methods 1 and 2, and isocratic elution was used in method 3. The imprecision was similar for the three methods and varied between 0.9 and 2.5% as studied within-day and between 1.4 and 3.2% from day-to-day. The lowest coefficient of variation was obtained around the upper reference limit. Analytical recoveries were quantitative for the three methods. The method with N-methyloleoyl taurate showed no advantages over the conventional strong cation exchanger. With the weak cation exchanger no interferences were detected from compounds investigated, but with the strong cation exchanger a slight interference was obtained with uric acid. We prefer the weak cation-exchange method because of its simplicity, higher throughput and absence of interference from hitherto tested compounds.

Determination of creatinine in whole blood, plasma, and urine by high-performance liquid chromatography

A sensitive method for the specific determination of creatinine in whole blood, plasma, and urine with high precision and accuracy is described. Samples were deproteinized by addition of acetonitrile and analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography using a cation-exchange column with a mobile phase of 9% acetonitrile in 40 mM ammonium phosphate (pH 4.0). The recoveries of creatinine added to blood and plasma were almost complete, ranging from 99 to 101%. The coefficients of variation were very small, 1.6% for blood and plasma and 1.5% for urine. Samples can be assayed in 11-min intervals subsequent to the initial injection. As little as 2 microliter of blood or plasma or 0.02 microliter of urine is sufficient for chromatographic analysis. The present method was successfully used for the accurate measurement of small arterial-venous differences of creatinine concentrations in blood across body organs and showed that in the sheep creatinine is produced in the muscles and is excreted by the kidneys. The method is also suitable for routine analysis of creatinine in clinical laboratories.

The use of an immobilized enzyme nylon tube reactor incorporating a four enzyme system for creatinine analysis

A single immobilized enzyme nylon tube reactor was produced incorporating a four enzyme system for the analysis of creatinine. The enzyme activity ratios in the coupling solution used to prepare the reactor were found to be of extreme importance in governing the activity of the latter. The reactor was incorporated into a continuous flow analysis system used to assay creatinine in urine samples and the results were correlated with a manual technique employing the same enzyme system in solution. The precision, correlation, high specificity, simplicity, and speed of the analysis were concluded to be factors in favor of the method's suitability for urine creatinine determinations.