Fluorometric determination of urinary kynurenic acid by flow injection analysis equipped with a "bypass line"

A flow injection analysis involving a photochemical reaction and fluorometric detection has been developed for the determination of urinary kynurenic acid. Kynurenic acid was found to fluoresce on irradiation with ultraviolet light at pH 7.2 in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. This method was applied to flow injection analysis using a new procedure involving a "bypass line" for the simultaneous determination of urinary kynurenic acid and background fluorescence. The calibration graph showed linearity over the range of 0.20 to 120 pmol. For pretreatment of urinary kynurenic acid, a PRE-SEP C18 cartridge was used. The mean recovery of kynurenic acid from urine was 94.5%. The content of urinary kynurenic acid was 13.0 +/- 2.68 mumol/day. There was good correlation (r = 0.9729) between values determined by flow injection analysis and high-performance liquid chromatography.