Determination of urinary methylated purine pattern by high-performance liquid chromatography

We describe the group selective separation and quantification of unmodified and modified purines in human urine by high-performance reverse phase liqu id chromatography. The pattern of oxypurines and methylated purines: hypoxa nthine (Hx), xanthine (X), 1-methyl hypoxanthine (1-MHx), 1-methyl guanine (1-MG), 3-methyl guanine (3-MG), 7-methyl guanine (7-MG), 1-methyl xanthine (1-MX), 3-methyl xanthine (3-MX), 7-methyl xanthine (7-MX), 1,7-dimethyl g uanine (1,7-dMG), 1,3-dimethyl xanthine (1,3-dMX), 1,7-dimethyl xanthine (3 ,7-dMX) and 1,3,7-trimethyl xanthine (1,3,7-tMX) were determined in a singl e run in urine of a healthy subject and a gout patient before and after tre atment with allopurinol. This method may be useful to investigate the urina ry pattern of methylated bases in diseases involving purine metabolism. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All lights reserved.