THE ANALYSIS OF AQUEOUS-HUMOR CONSTITUENTS USING CAPILLARY-ZONE-ELECTROPHORESIS

One of the difficulties encountered in the study of aqueous humor is t he relatively small volume generally available for analysis. The purpo se of this study was to investigate the potential use of capillary zon e electrophoresis (CE) for the analysis of nanolitre quantities of thi s fluid. Twelve samples of aqueous humor were obtained from patients u ndergoing cataract surgery and a further three samples were from non c ataract post mortem subjects within 6 hr of death. CE was carried out in an uncoated fused silica glass capillary, 75 mu internal diameter a nd 100 cm long using a run buffer of 40 mM berate pH 9.4 containing 0. 4 g l(-1) methylcellulose. Detection of the separated zones was by ult ra violet absorption at 200 nm. Preliminary identification of peaks wa s achieved by enzymatic hydrolysis and spiking with purified analytes. A number of very well resolved peaks were obtained from both cataract and post mortem samples using nanolitre quantities of unmodified flui d. Additional peaks were noted in the post mortem samples, most of whi ch were likely to be due to a partial breakdown of the blood aqueous h umor barrier. The profiles obtained were not significantly affected by various drugs routinely administered during cataract surgery. This pr eliminary study has demonstrated the potential value of CE in the anal ysis of aqueous humor in health and disease. This preliminary study ha s demonstrated the potential value of CE in the analysis of aqueous hu mor in health and disease. (C) 1998 Academic Press.