Determination of cholesterol using o-phthalaldehyde.
A simple, rapid method for the determination of cholesterol in plasma and tissue using o-phthalaldehyde is presented. Comparison of this method with the FeCl(3) method gave identical results. However, the o-phthalaldehyde determination is three times more sensitive than the FeCl(3) determination (molar extinction coefficients of 11,610 and 33,440 for FeCl(3) and o-phthalaldehyde, respectively), it takes less time to complete, and the color developed is more stable. The o-phthalaldehyde method can be used to assay free and esterified cholesterol directly after thin-layer chromatographic separation.
Banting and Best Department of Medical Research, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, and Departments of Biochemistry and Pediatrics, University of Arkansas Medical Center, Little Rock, Arkansas 72201.
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Morris