ENRICHMENT AND ANALYSIS OF DESMOSINE AND ISODESMOSINE IN BIOLOGICAL-FLUIDS

A method has been developed for the enrichment and analysis of the ela stin crosslinks, desmosine and isodesmosine, in biological fluids and tissues. It is adapted from published methods, offering improved recov ery, sensitivity, resolution, and speed of analysis. Samples were hydr olyzed in 6 M HCl, after which the desmosines were enriched by CF1 cel lulose chromatography and analyzed by HPLC with a C-18 column. Isodesm osine and desmosine were quantitated based on absorbance at 275 nm, wi th a limit of detection of approximately 30 pmol and recovery of appro ximately 66% in urine. Their t(R) values on our HPLC system were appro ximately 9 and 12 min, respectively. This method was used to evaluate the daily and weekly variation in the concentrations of desmosine and isodesmosine in human urine. The results suggest that this method can be used to process large numbers of biological samples for analysis of desmosine and isodesmosine.