Simultaneous determination of retinyl esters and retinol in human livers by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography.

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of retinol and retinyl esters in human liver samples is presented. The free retinol and the prevalent retinyl esters (retinyl palmitate, oleate and stearate) are resolved within less than 30 min, using an octasilyl (C8)-substituted column and an isocratic elution with methanol-water as mobile phase. This method allows to determine in duplicate all retinyl ester concentrations in small liver samples (3-10 mg of fresh tissue). The results obtained from thirteen patients without liver disease are described.