LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHIC DETERMINATION OF THE SPHINGANINE SPHINGOSINE RATIO IN SERUM/

The fumonisin mycotoxins, which are worldwide contaminants of corn, in hibit de novo sphingolipid biosynthesis leading to elevation in the ra tio of the sphingoid bases, sphinganine and sphingosine, in the serum of animals exposed to fumonisins. A new HPLC method for the determinat ion of the ratio of these bases in serum has been developed involving lipid extraction, clean-up on a silica minicolumn and alkaline hydroly sis prior to precolumn o-phthaldialdehyde derivatisation and HPLC sepa ration and quantification by fluorescence detection. Based on serum Fr om both normal and fumonisin-exposed vervet monkeys, the method was sh own to be reproducible (R.S.D.<10%). (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. Al l rights reserved.