van Haandel Leon, Stobaugh John F
Division of Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutic Innovation, Children's Mercy Hospitals & Clinics, 2401 Gillham Road, Kansas City, MO 64108, USA.
Bioanalysis. 2013 Dec;5(24):3023-31. doi: 10.4155/bio.13.261.
This Perspective provides a brief description of the essential role that folates play in human health, together with an overview of the various analytical methods that have been used for quantitation of folates in human populations over the past few decades. Essentially, folate methodology has evolved from microbiological assay-based, to binding-based technology and, more recently, to separation-based methodology. Separation-based methods initially used traditional LC in conjunction with various detection techniques, with the most recent methods utilizing UPLC-MS/MS. Current UPLC methods offer exceptional speed, sensitivity and quantitation ability for the monoglutamate folate isoforms. It appears that the only limitation to properly quantifying all folates as polyglutamates, some 40-50 species, is the current lack of corresponding stable-isotope standards. Clearly, UPLC-MS/MS is emerging as the 'method of choice' for the determination of folates, whether in support of basic research, clinical investigations or population studies.
本综述简要描述了叶酸在人类健康中所起的重要作用，并概述了过去几十年来用于定量人群中叶酸的各种分析方法。从本质上讲，叶酸分析方法已从基于微生物测定法，发展到基于结合的技术，最近又发展到基于分离的方法。基于分离的方法最初使用传统液相色谱结合各种检测技术，最新的方法则采用超高效液相色谱-串联质谱法（UPLC-MS/MS）。目前的超高效液相色谱方法对单谷氨酸叶酸异构体具有出色的速度、灵敏度和定量能力。对于正确定量约40 - 50种作为多谷氨酸的所有叶酸而言，唯一的限制似乎是目前缺乏相应的稳定同位素标准品。显然，无论是支持基础研究、临床研究还是人群研究，超高效液相色谱-串联质谱法正成为测定叶酸的“首选方法”。
