Chromatography

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method is presented for determination of glutathione in whole blood. Sample preparationinvolveshemolysis, protein precipi-tation,centrifugation,and filtration. The glutathione in the filtrateisthen separated from other sulfhydryl-containing molecules by liquidchromatography withZipax SCX cat-ion-exchanger followed by detection with a mercury-based electrochemical detector. The liquid-chromatographic analysis time is approximately 5 mm. Because of the chromatographic separation and the selectivity of the detector, the detection step is free from interferences from other components of blood. The method has been checked by comparison with the colorimetric assay based on re-action with 5,5’-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid). The chro-matographic results are consistently slightly lower, pre