Abstract
This chapter discusses the assay procedures, using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), that are simple and specific for cysteinesulfinic acid and cysteic acid, and are readily applicable to the determination of these amino acids in biological samples. L-Cysteinesulfinic acid is a key intermediate in the biosynthesis of taurine from cysteine. Cysteic acid is another important intermediate in taurine biosynthesis from cysteinesulfinic acid or sulfate. For the assay of cysteine sulfinate, the ninhydrin reaction has usually been employed after separating this compound by column chromatography. Biological samples are homogenized in 10 volumes of ice-cold 10% trichloroacetic acid (TCA), and the homogenates are centrifuged at 8000 g for 30 min at 4°. The HPLC system used is Model LC3A (Shimadzu Seisakusho Ltd., Kyoto, Japan). The separation of amino acids in a standard mixture containing 1 nmol of various amino acids and in biological samples using the cation-exchange resin is essentially identical. The chapter presents the contents of cysteine sulfinate and cysteic acid in whole brain, kidney, and liver of male Wistar rats (weighing 180-200 g), measured by the above HPLC procedure.
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