Determination of the Endogenous Nitric Oxide Synthase Inhibitor Asymmetric Dimethylarginine in Biological Samples by HPLC

Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) is an endogenous inhibitor of all isoforms of nitric oxide synthase, the enzyme that synthesizes nitric oxide from arginine. Elevated plasma concentrations of ADMA are associated with hypertension and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA), a stereoisomer of ADMA that does not inhibit nitric oxide synthase, is also present in plasma in concentrations that are almost equal to ADMA concentrations. Any analytical method used for the determination of ADMA should therefore be able to discriminate between ADMA and SDMA. In this chapter a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the simultaneous analysis of arginine, ADMA, and SDMA is described. Solid-phase extraction is used to isolate all basic amino acids. Subsequently, amino acids are converted into relatively stable adducts by derivatization with o-phthalaldehyde reagent containing mercaptopropionic acid. Derivatives are then separated by reversed-phase HPLC using isocratic elution and fluorescence detection. The method requires only 0.05-0.2 mL of sample, allowing the analysis of plasma from small laboratory animals. Because of its high precision, this method is particularly suited to detect small concentration differences between samples, e.g., in the assessment of ADMA metabolism at the organ level by measurement of arterio-venous concentration differences.