Arachidonic acid metabolites from polymorphonuclear leukocytes of healthy donors, severely burned patients and children with cystic fibrosis--routine monitoring by high-performance liquid chromatography.

A rapid and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of arachidonic acid metabolites was developed. This method provides a clear and simple separation of the omega-oxidation products as well as of leukotriene B4 and 5S,12S-dihydroxy-6-cis-8-trans-10-trans-14-cis-eicosatetraenoic acid. Furthermore, a solvent switch enables the detection of the monohydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids together with the cysteinyl-leukotrienes as well as leukotriene B4 and the dihydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids within 70 min (including column equilibration for 10 min). The efficiency of the method for the routine monitoring of leukotrienes was performed with human polymorphonuclear leukocytes of healthy donors, severely burned patients and of children with cystic fibrosis. The advantages of this method include high sensitivity and easy handling, which are important for routine analyses of the arachidonic acid metabolites.