Determination of heparin on intraocular lens surfaces by ion chromatography

A sensitive and selective method has been developed for the determination of heparin on heparin coated PMMA, poly(methyl methacrylate), intraocular lenses. Heparin was hydrolysed to glucosamine and glucuronic acid, and the content of glucosamine was determined using ion chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection. In order to verify that a complete hydrolysis was obtained for the heparin on the coated intraocular lenses, electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA) was used for analysing traces of sulphur on the lens surfaces. The sensitivity of the method allows quantitative determination of 150 ng of heparin on one individual lens. The new method was compared to a standard spectrophotometric method, measuring the colour intensity of a heparin toluidine blue complex. Correlation between the methods was shown for samples prepared from PMMA lenses coated with different amounts of heparin.