Determination of polyamines in human tissues by precolumn derivatization with 9-fluorenylmethyl chloroformate and high-performance liquid chromatography.

A high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assay with fluorescence detection was developed for the determination of the polyamines putrescine, spermidine, spermine in samples of human spinal cord, cerebellum, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), skeletal muscle, and muscle microdialysates without an extensive sample preparation. The precolumn derivatization was performed with 9-fluorenylmethyl chloroformate (FMOC), and the derivatizated polyamines were stable for at least 14 h at 4 degrees C. All polyamines were separated within 35 min. The method was checked for linearity, and mean correlation coefficient values of 0.995, 0.999, and 0.991 were achieved for putrescine, spermidine, and spermine, respectively. The within- and between-assay coefficient of variation percentages evaluated in standard solutions varied between 1.0 and 4.9% and between 1.3 and 6.9%, respectively. The corresponding values obtained in samples of human spinal cord were between 1.0 and 5.0% and between 0.6 and 5.8%. The values of the recovery, evaluated in spinal cord tissue, varied between 83.7 and 93.5%.