Simultaneous Determination of Glutathione, γ-Glutamylcysteine and Cysteine in Commercial Yeast Extract by HPLC with Fluorimetric Detection

Abstract

A rapid and precise method for the simultaneous determination of glutathione (GSH), γ-glutamylcysteine and cysteine in commercial GSH-enriched yeast extract (GSH-YE) is described. Isocratic separation of the above compounds was performed using an aminopropyl silica column. Post-column derivatization with N-acridinylmaleimide (NAM) was performed followed by fluorimetric detection. This HPLC method could be applied for the determination of GSH, γ-glutamylcysteine and cysteine in commercial yeast extract. All of the commercial GSH-YE contained γ-glutamylcysteine (0.057-0.50 g/100 g) and cysteine (0.020-1.71 g/100 g).