title: Gas chromatographic determination of indole and 3-methylindole (skatole) in bacterial culture media, intestinal contents and faeces.
abstract: A simple, rapid and inexpensive gas chromatographic method was developed for the determination of indole and 3-methylindole (skatole) in faeces, intestinal contents and bacterial cultures. It involves a simple homogenization and extraction with chloroform. The extract is injected onto a gas chromatograph equipped with a 12.5-m fused-silica capillary column coated with BP20 and a film thickness of 0.5 micron. To simplify the chromatograms and to get a higher sensitivity a nitrogen-phosphorus-sensitive detector is applied. The detection limit for indole and 3-methylindole under the conditions employed is 20 micrograms/kg, which is well below the values typically found in intestinal contents (up to 100 mg/kg). Recovery for both compounds was close to 100%, and the mean coefficients of variation were 3.5% for indole and 3.0% for 3-methylindole. The method has demonstrated its practical value in the analysis of more than 50,000 samples in our laboratory. More than 100 samples can be analyzed per day.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Physiology and Biochemistry, National Institute of Animal Science, Tjele, Denmark.
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.forename: B B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Jensen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D002849:Chromatography, Gas / Q000379:methods*; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned / Q000032:analysis; D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry*; D007211:Indoles / Q000032:analysis*; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism*; D012862:Skatole / Q000032:analysis*; D013552:Swine
chemical_list: D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned; D007211:Indoles; C030374:indole; D012862:Skatole