C. Bethune et al., DEVELOPMENT OF A HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHIC ASSAY FOR G418 SULFATE (GENETICIN), Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, 41(3), 1997, pp. 661-664
We have developed a chromatographic assay with high sensitivity and sp
ecificity to quantify G418 sulfate (Geneticin), an antibiotic used rou
tinely in molecular genetics experiments for selecting eukaryotic tran
sformants. With this method, G418 in tissues and plasma samples can be
quantitated without the confounding factors often associated with bio
logical assays, After removal of proteins in homogenized tissue or pla
sma samples with methanol (2:1, vol/vol), the amino group of G418 was
derivatized with 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (DNFB) to form the UV-vis
ible G418-DNFB product, The DNFB-derivatized G418 was separated on a r
eversed-phase C-18 column with an acetonitrile and water gradient as t
he mobile phase, Under these assay conditions, the detection limit for
G418 sulfate in buffer, plasma, and tissues was recorded at 78 ng/ml
and the linearity was recorded for concentrations up to 100 mu g/ml. T
he data obtained from this analysis indicate that this assay can be us
ed for the quantitative determination of G418 sulfate in plasma and ti
ssue samples.