Simultaneous gas-chromatographic measurement of rhamnose, lactulose and sucrose and their application in the testing gastrointestinal permeability.
BACKGROUND
As it is important to test gastric and intestinal permeability simultaneously in gastrointestinal disorders such as Celiac disease, we developed a gas-chromatographic (GC) method to estimate rhamnose (L-rh), lactulose (Lacl) and sucrose (Suc) in urine.


METHODS
The method is based on the use of alditol acetate derivatives giving a lower number of GC peaks than reducing sugars do. Acetate derivatives are more stable and less expensive than GC silylates and keep the flame-detector cleaner. We checked the chemical stability of alditol acetates by verifying the reproducibility of the standard curve of a sugar derivative sample which had been stored for 2 months at -20 degrees C.


RESULTS
The calibration proved linear over the range 0.1-1 microg of sugar injected. Analytical sugar recovery was 88%+/-19.4% (mean+/-S.D.) for rhamnose, 105%+/-7.4% for sucrose and 102%+/-2.4% for lactulose. Mean within-day precision (CV) was 7.7% for rhamnose, 5.7% for sucrose and 1.9% for lactulose, and between-day (CV) was 6.7% for rhamnose, 3.9% for sucrose and 1.6% for lactulose. The rhamnose, lactulose and sucrose as the lactulose/rhamnose ratio clearly differentiated 25 healthy controls from 36 patients with active gluten-sensitive enteropathy.


CONCLUSIONS
A fast, reliable and cheap gas-chromatographic method is presented here to evaluate gastric and intestinal permeability.
Abazia
Cristiana
C
Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica e Sperimentale, Università Federico II,Via S. Pansini, 5 80131 Naples, Italy.
Ferrara
Renata
R
Corsaro
Maria Michela
MM
Barone
Gaspare
G
Coccoli
Pietro
P
Parrilli
Gianpaolo
G
D002446:Celiac Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000652:urine*; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D004064:Digestive System / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007408:Intestinal Absorption; D007792:Lactulose / Q000652:urine*; D008297:Male; D010539:Permeability; D012210:Rhamnose / Q000652:urine*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013395:Sucrose / Q000652:urine*
D007792:Lactulose; D013395:Sucrose; D012210:Rhamnose