CZE determination of quinolinic acid in rat brain tissue and plasma

In this paper, a capillary zone electrophoretic method for the determination of the excitotoxic quinolinic acid in rat brain tissue (cerebellum, cortex, hippocampus, striatum) and plasma samples is described. Optimum separation of the excitotoxic quinolinic acid was achieved with a 14.4 mM boric acid/5.6 mM sodium tetraborate electrolyte solution at pH 8.84. The applied voltage was 30 kV and the capillary temperature was kept constant at 25 °C. The regression equations revealed a good linear correlation between the peak area and the concentration. The method was linear over the concentration range of 0.50 to 600 nM. All correlation coefficients were higher or equal to 0.9998. To optimize the analysis conditions, the effects of electrolyte solution pH, the concentration, and the use of methanol as an organic modifier were systematically studied. The amount of quinolinic acid in the rat brain tissue and plasma under control conditions were found to be: cerebellum 30.2 ± 1.7 nM (mean ± standard deviation); cortex 5.6 ± 0.7 nM; hippocampus 64.2 ± 9.4 nM; striatum 4.3 ± 0.6 nM, and plasma 40.1 ± 2.3 nM. The limits of detection and quantification were 0.47 nM (signal/noise = 3) and 1.58 nM, respectively. The method was successfully applied to quantify quinolinic acid in the rat brain striata under two neurotoxicity models with good repeatability (RSD < 10%) and recovery (98–102%). The proposed analytical method could be useful to clarify the role of quinolinic acid in neurodegenerative entities such as Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases.