Abstract
A high-performance liquid chromatographic method was established for simultaneous determination of zinc-protoporphyrin (ZPP) and free protoporphyrin (FEP) in erythrocytes. These porphyrin were extracted with recoveries about 85% each, completely separated by a reversed ODS column within 10 minutes. The detection limits for ZPP and protoporphyrin (pp) of standards were 0.49 and 0.15 ng, respectively. The normal ranges were estimated to be 13.1-54.0 μg/100 ml RBC for ZPP and 3.9-20.1 μg/100 ml RBC for FEP. The rapidity and simplicity of the method allow its application to the routine analysis of erythrocyte porphyrins in the clinical laboratory.
