Detection of S-adenosylhomocysteine and methylation index in blood by capillary electrophoresis.

This work proposes an approach to the direct analysis of S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) and the methylation index in blood using CE with UV detection (CE-UV). After application of meglumine postinjection, we achieved SAH in-capillary preconcentration in the HClO4 extracts of erythrocytes, which improved the detection limit (S/N = 3) of SAH up to 3 fmol or 180 nmol/L at the injection volume of 50 nL, taking into account the sample dilution rate. CE-UV was carried out in 30 mM glycine and 45 mmol/L HCl (pH ~1.8) at 17 kV in a capillary 48 cm in length and 50 µm id. Accuracy of the technique was 101% and reproducibility was about 12%.