SIMPLIFIED METHOD FOR MEASURING URINARY LEUKOTRIENE E(4)

The conventional method for measuring urinary leukotriene E(4) (LTE4) is by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), followed by radioimmunoassay (RIA) or enzyme immunoassay (EIA). We me asured urinary LTE4 levels by two methods, HPLC with EIA and EIA alone after initial crude extraction of urine using an octadecyl reversed-p hase extraction cartridge (Sep-Pak). Ninety-three urine samples from n ormal subjects and patients with bronchial asthma and adult respirator y distress syndrome were tested. The results showed that urinary LTE4 levels measured by EIA significantly correlated with those measured by HPLC plus EIA in the three groups (r=0.88, 0.85, 0.68). The absolute values of urinary LTE4 measured by EIA without HPLC purification were higher than by EIA with HPLC purification. This suggests that HPLC may not be necessary for routine urinary LTE4 quantitation in different c linical situations.