The determination of tissue ethanolamine levels by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography

A rapid and sensitive procedure for the determination of ethanolamine levels in mammalian tissues is reported. Ethanolamine was extracted from the tissue with a chloroform/methanol mixture, followed by phase separation. The aqueous phase was subjected to charcoal chromatography and the eluant was derivatized with phenylisothiocyanate. The amount of phenylthiocarbamyl (PTC) ethanolamine in the tissue extract was determined by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Quantitation of PTC ethanolamine was linear between 0.1-1.0 nmol. The pool sizes of ethanolamine in hamster heart, liver and kidney were found to be 1.07, 0.92 and 1.11 mumol/g wet weight, respectively. The sensitivity of the method would allow the determination of ethanolamine in very small tissue samples.