A method for the determination of uric acid in human serum by HPLC-ECD was reexamined. Eluate from a column was amperometrically monitored by aid of an electrochemical detector with a plate-type glassy carbon electrode or a rod-type one as a working electrode. The upper detection limit of the detector with the plate-type electrode was found to be lower than that with the rod-type one. Since it was found that uric acid levels in human serum samples were very high, use of the detector with the rod-type electrode was recommended. In addition, we optimized a procedure for the treatment of human serum prior to chromatography. When the optimized procedure was applied for the pretreatment of human serum and an aliquot of the treated serum was injected onto a column, uric acid in human serum was able to be determined by aid of both electrochemical detectors.
Comparison of the HPLC-ECD and HPLC-UV detection methods for the determination of human serum uric acid was done in order to provide some significant informations for routine use. We stressed that the HPLC-ECD method was useful for the determination of uric acid in mammalian tissues as well as in body fluids because the method was found to be highly selective, sensitive and reliable for the determination of uric acid. The HPLC-UV detection method allowed to determine uric acid not in mammalian tissues, but in human serum.