Author(s)

Daisuke Saigusa, Mai Takahashi, Yoshitomi Kanemitsu, Ayako Ishida, Takaaki Abe, Tohru Yamakuni, Naoto Suzuki, Yoshihisa Tomioka

.
Laboratory of Oncology, Pharmacy Practice and Sciences, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.

Herein, we present a novel method of asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) determination within biological samples using protein precipitation and LC/MS/MS. Chromatographic separation of ADMA and SDMA was successfully performed using a silica column with optimized elution, or mobile phase, of 10 mM ammonium acetate buffer H₂O/methanol/acetonitrile (20/30/45, v/v) at pH 4. The calibration ranges were 0.50 – 50.0 μg●mL^-1, and good linearities were obtained for all compounds ( γ > 0.99). The intra- and inter-assay accuracies with recoveries and precisions at three concentration levels (i.e. 1.00, 5.00 and 25.0 μg●mL^-1) were better than 86.9% and 7.36%, respectively. The analytical performance of the method was evaluated by determination of compounds in plasma, urine and tissues from male BALBc/J mice. For the first time, we were able to characterize the distribution of ADMA, SDMA and ADMA/SDMA in plasma, urine, brain, heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and spleen. Additionally, we demonstrated that the ADMA/SDMA ratio in the brain was approximately 10-fold lower than all the other biological samples. Only 10 μL of plasma, 1 μL of urine and about 25 mg of tissues were required. These results suggest that the developed methodology was useful in ADMA and SDMA determination within biological samples.

Asymmetric Dimethylarginine, Symmetric Dimethylarginine, Creatinine, Arginine, Tissue, Liquid Chromatography/Tandem Mass Spectrometry.

D. Saigusa, M. Takahashi, Y. Kanemitsu, A. Ishida, T. Abe, T. Yamakuni, N. Suzuki and Y. Tomioka, "Determination of Asymmetric Dimethylarginine and Symmetric Dimethylarginine in Biological Samples of Mice Using LC/MS/MS," American Journal of Analytical Chemistry, Vol. 2 No. 3, 2011, pp. 303-313. doi: 10.4236/ajac.2011.23038.