title: Selective procedures for detecting femtomole quantities of tuberculostearic acid in serum and cerebrospinal fluid by frequency-pulsed electron capture gas-liquid chromatography.
abstract: Conditions are described for the detection of tuberculostearic acid (10-methyloctadecanoate; C18 X CH3) in cerebrospinal fluid and serum of patients with tuberculous meningitis. C18 X CH3 was found in both the cerebrospinal fluid and serum of patients with tuberculous meningitis at concentrations of 25 to 50 fmol (10(-15) mol). The necessary specificity and sensitivity for detection of C18 X CH3 were obtained by extraction under acid conditions with organic solvent, specific functional group esterification with trichloroethanol, cleanup with disposable reverse-phase sorption chromatography columns, analysis on high-resolution polar and nonpolar capillary columns, and detection by a frequency-pulsed electron capture detector. Use of an IBM 9000 computer equipped with CAP software significantly aided comparison between known C18 X CH3 standards and C18 X CH3 in clinical specimens. Scale expansion and attenuation changes were the major contributions obtained by use of the computer. The data indicate that detection of C18 X CH3 by frequency-pulsed electron capture gas-liquid chromatography may be a valuable aid for early detection of tuberculous meningitis.
mesh_terms: D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D006801:Humans; D013229:Stearic Acids / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D014390:Tuberculosis, Meningeal / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: D013229:Stearic Acids; C026082:tuberculostearic acid