Investigation of N-hydroxy-l-arginine interference in the quantitative determination of nitrite and nitrate in human plasma and urine by GC-NICI-MS.

N-Hydroxy-l-arginine (NOHA) is the intermediate product of the conversion of l-arginine to l-citrulline and nitric oxide (NO) by nitric oxide synthase (NOS). NO is further oxidized to nitrite and nitrate which circulate in the blood and are excreted in the urine. Nitrite and nitrate may therefore serve as surrogates of NO synthesis. NOHA has been reported to occur in various cells and in blood of animals and humans. The concentration of nitrite in the circulation is comparable to the concentration of NOHA in plasma and serum of humans and laboratory animals. NOHA is a relatively unstable compound and the interaction of its N-hydroxy group with redox active species or during sample treatment such as derivatization in the heat may yield N-containing compounds including nitrite and nitrate. In theory, NOHA may interfere with the analysis of nitrite and nitrate. In the present study, we investigated a possible interference of synthetic NOHA (0-400 μM) with the gas chromatography-negative ion chemical ionization-mass spectrometry (GC-NICI-MS) method of analysis of circulating and urinary nitrite and nitrate involving derivatization with pentafluorobenzyl (PFB) bromide in aqueous acetone at 50 °C for 5 min (nitrite) or for 60 min (nitrite and nitrate). Our results show that NOHA does not interfere with the measurement of nitrite and nitrate in human plasma and urine by this method at concentrations up to 400 μM.