Enantioselective measurement of the Candida metabolite D-arabinitol in human serum using multi-dimensional gas chromatography and a new chiral phase.

A multi-dimensional gas chromatographic method was developed to measure the Candida metabolite D-arabinitol enantioselectively in human serum. The heptafluorobutyrate derivatives of D-arabinitol, L-arabinitol and ribitol (internal standard) were separated from other serum constituents with a 60 m X 0.32 mm fused-silica SPB-5 precolumn, and (after intermediate cold trapping) they were separated from each other with a 25 m x 0.25 mm fused-silica column coated with a new bonded chiral phase. Replicate analyses of spiked human sera showed that D-arabinitol could be quantified accurately and precisely. The D- and L-arabinitol concentrations in 24 normal adult sera were 0.20 +/- 0.053 and 0.11 +/- 0.040 mu/ml, respectively, and the D- and L-arabinitol/creatinine ratios were 0.023 +/- 0.011 and 0.012 +/- 0.0051, respectively (mean +/- S.D.). In a patient with Candida albicans fungemia, the D-arabinitol/creatinine ratios rose early during infection and fell with successful treatment, whereas L-arabinitol/creatinine ratios did not change significantly. This enantioselective analytical method is more practical than earlier ones; it should facilitate further investigation of D-arabinitol as a diagnostic marker for candidiasis.