About the Book:

Among the vast array of methods available for biochemical analysis, chromatography occupies a venerable station. Few analytical methods have had such a vital impact on the development of clinical chemistry and toxicology. In this book, the editors have assembled a cross-section of contemporary applications of chromatographic methods used in clinical chemistry and toxicology.

·     The opening chapter focuses on QA and QC, emphasizing the importance of validating analytical methods that are used for clinical and forensic purposes.

·    Chapters 2 to 6 discuss applications of chromatographic methods in the detection of anabolic steroids in urine; the detection and measurement of popular nutritional supplements; measurement of L-dopa and L-tyrosine as markers of malignant melanoma; capillary zone electrophoresis combined with LC and MS to measure proteins in plasma; use of HPLC to detect abnormally glycosolated transferrin; and the measurement of catecholamines, which are specific markers of neuroendocrine tumors.

·     Chapters 7 to 11 focus on toxicology applications, including a description of the analysis of alcohols and inhalants; LC methods for measuring organophosphate pesticides, and the detection and identification of neurotoxins used as biochemical weapons; and a GC/MS method for measuring -hydroxybutyrate and analogues.

·         The final two chapters present chromatographic methods adapted to the analysis of heavy metals in biological specimens: LC and ICP to measure arsenic, mercury, selenium, and platinum in a variety of biological matrices; and measurement of heavy metals by generating volatile chelates that are separated by GC and detected by MS.

Contents:

1.   Quality Assurance, Quality Control and Method Validation in Chromatographic Applications

2.   Liquid Chromatographic-Mass Spectrometric Measurement of Anabolic Steroids

3.   High-Performance Liquid Chromatography in the Analysis of Active Ingredients in Herbal Nutritional Supplements

4.   Measurement of Plasma L-DOPA and L-Tyrosine by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography as a Tumor Marker in Melanoma

5.   Hypersensitive Measurement of Proteins by Capillary Isoelectric Focusing and Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

6.   Chromatographic Measurement of Transferrin Glycoforms for Detecting Alcohol Abuse and Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation

7.   Chromatographic Measurements of Catecholamines and Metanephrines

8.   Chromatographic Measurement of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

9.   Chromatographic Techniques for Measuring Organophosphorus Pesticides

10. Chromatographic Analysis of Nerve Agents

11. History and Pharmacology of ?-Hydroxybutyric Acid

12. Liquid Chromatography with Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometric Detection for Element Speciation: Clinical and Toxicological Applications

 13. Applications of Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry to the Determination of Toxic Metals

About the Authors:

Roger L Bertholf, Ph.D., DABCC, Department of Pathology, University of Florida Health Science Center, Jacksonville, FL, USA