title: Simultaneous detection of N-acetyl-L-cysteine and physiological low molecular mass thiols in plasma by capillary electrophoresis.
abstract: N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) is a therapeutic drug widely used as mucolytic agent in the treatment of respiratory diseases. Recently it has been proposed that NAC administration may modify the plasma levels of low molecular weight thiols (LMW) like cysteine, homocysteine and glutathione, though it has been still debated if their plasma concentration increases or decreases during the therapy. Therefore research calls for methods able to analyze simultaneously NAC and the other plasma LMW thiols in order to evaluate if NAC is able to modify plasma thiols concentration and in particular to reduce homocysteine levels in hyperhomocysteinemia. In this paper we present a new capillary electrophoresis method that allows a baseline separation of plasma NAC from the physiological thiols. The proposed method has been utilized to measure the drug and the physiological LMW thiols in NAC administered chronic obstructive broncho-pneumopathy (COPB) disease patients.
authors.affiliation: Chair of Clinical Biochemistry, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Viale San Pietro 43/B, 07100 Sassari, Italy. angelozinellu@libero.it
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zinellu
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sotgia
authors.forename: Bastianina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Scanu
authors.forename: Maria Franca
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Usai
authors.forename: Alessandro Giuseppe
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Fois
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Spada
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Deledda
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Deiana
authors.forename: Piero
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pirina
authors.forename: Ciriaco
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carru
mesh_terms: D000111:Acetylcysteine / Q000097:blood* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D019075:Electrophoresis, Capillary / Q000379:methods*; D005100:Expectorants / Q000378:metabolism / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008970:Molecular Weight; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000097:blood; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds / Q000097:blood / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D005100:Expectorants; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds; D000111:Acetylcysteine