High-performance liquid chromatographic method for the evaluation of possible interferences in basophil-histamine release measurements.

Basophil activation studies commonly rely on the measurement of histamine following extraction and condensation to o-phthalaldehyde (OPT) as a quantitative measurement of degranulation. Specificity has long been recognized as a problem with this method. We have described a new high-performance liquid chromatographic method that allows for both a qualitative and a quantitative check of the purity of the OPT-histamine adduct. This method was sensitive (limit of detection = 2.55 pmol) and linear over a wide range (5 to 1000 ng/ml).