title: High-performance liquid chromatographic method for monitoring leupeptin in mouse serum and muscle by pre-column fluorescence derivatization with benzoin.
abstract: A high-performance liquid chromatographic method is described for the determination of leupeptin, a possible therapeutic drug for muscular dystrophy, in mouse serum and muscle. Leupeptin is reduced with sodium borohydride to leupeptinol, and then converted to a fluorescent derivative with benzoin. The derivative is separated on a reversed-phase column (LiChrosorb RP-18) with isocratic elution and determined with fluorescence detection. The detection limits of leupeptin in serum and muscle are 250 pmol/ml (107 ng/ml) and 500 pmol/g (214 ng/g), respectively, corresponding to approximately 150 fmol each in a 100-microliters injection volume. This method is simple and sensitive enough to permit the quantification of leupeptin in biological samples from mice dosed with leupeptin.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001573:Benzoin; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D007976:Leupeptins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood / Q000302:isolation & purification; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009132:Muscles / Q000032:analysis*; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000032:analysis*; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence
chemical_list: D007976:Leupeptins; D009842:Oligopeptides; C032854:leupeptin; D001573:Benzoin