High-performance liquid chromatographic method for rapid and highly sensitive determination of histidine using postcolumn fluorescence detection with o-phthaldialdehyde.

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method was developed for the rapid and sensitive determination of histidine. The method is based on separation by reversed-phase ion-pair chromatography followed by highly selective fluorescence derivatization of histidine with o-phthaldialdehyde. A linear calibration curve was obtained over the range of 0.25-200 pmol per injection (10 microl) with the coefficient of variation of 0.9% at 2 pmol (n=10) and with the detection limit (SIN=8) of 25 fmol. The method was applicable to the assay of histidine in human serum. Serum histidine values obtained by the present method were in good agreement with values obtained with an amino acid analyzer.