An improved method for measuring blood mercaptans.

An improved method for measuring MT in the blood is described which uses zinc as a reducing agent and utilizes a more sensitive gas chromatograph. The method measures covalently bound MT that was not previously detected and permits determinations in patients for the first time. The average normal whole blood MT in rat blood was 200 +/- 42 pmol/ml and in human blood 229 +/- 29 pmol/ml. Eleven rats in experimental hepatic coma following acute massive hepatic necrosis had blood levels four to 18 times the average normal, and seven cirrhotic patients with hepatic encephalopathy or coma had blood levels four to five times the average normal.