Development of a mass spectrometric method to quantitate platelet activating factor in mouse urine.

Platelet activating factor (PAF) is a lipid mediator of inflammation released by a variety of stimulated inflammatory cells. It may be involved in immune glomerulonephritis. Thus, its measurement in urine could give information on the mechanism of this disease. We present here a method to measure PAF in mouse urine, using gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (GLC-MS) in the selected ion recording (SIR) mode. Before instrumental analysis, the extracted and purified samples were hydrolyzed and derivatized with pentafluorobenzoyl chloride. Different experimental conditions are presented and discussed to corroborate the analytical findings. PAF levels in mouse urine were 2.08 +/- 0.46 ng/24 h. This procedure might represent a new experimental tool to establish the possible role of PAF as mediator of tissue damage in renal disease.