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

Abstract

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 × 0.32 mm fused-silica SPB-5 precolumn, and (after intermediate cold trapping) they were separated from each other with a 25 m × 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 μ/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.