Abstract
A simple method for the determination of the excitotoxin, quinolinic acid (QUIN) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is described. QUIN, in lyophilized samples, was silylated by N-methyl- N-( tert.-butyldimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide in a single-step reaction at 65 to 70°C to form a di- tert.-butyldimethylsilyl ester. Neither pre-purification of QUIN from CSF nor post-derivatisation sample clean-up was required. The derivatives were analysed by gas chromatography–electron impact mass spectrometry resulting in a prominent and characteristic [M−57] + fragment ion which was used for quantitation. 2,6-Pyridine dicarboxylic acid, a structural analog of QUIN, was used as the internal standard. The detection limits for injected standards are in the femtomole range. CSF QUIN was found to be age-related and three preliminary reference ranges for CSF QUIN were found: 0 to 1 years, 31±15 n M QUIN (mean±standard deviation); 1.1 to 3 years, 26±15 n M; 3.1 to 14 years, 14±9 n M.
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