Rapid microanalysis of cholesterol in bile and serum by gas chromatography.

Bile and serum cholesterol concentrations were analyzed by the same saponification, extraction and gas chromatographic procedure, utilizing stigmasterol as an internal standard and trifluoroacetate derivatization. The method was rapid and highly sensitive, requiring only 20 to 50 mul of sample. Comparable levels of precision were achieved by parallel analysis of a series of bile and serum samples by the present method and the Abell colorimetric method; a high degree of correlation was found between these two methods.