Ion-exchange liquid chromatographic determination of nitrate and nitrite in biological fluids

A rapid, ion-exchange liquid chromatographic method for the determination of nitrate and nitrite in biological fluids is presented. Samples are deproteinated by ultrafiltration followed by removal of chloride using a silver form cation-exchange resin. Nitrate and nitrite are measured by ion-exchange liquid chromatography with conductivity detection. Recoveries from serum, ocular fluid, and water were determined for fortifications from 10 to 150 mg/L. Average recoveries ranged from 96 to 104% for nitrate and from 89 to 105% for nitrite. Pooled RSD values ranged between 1.5 and 1.9% for these analytes in all matrixes examined. The method of joint confidence hexagons was applied to the data to determine constant and relative bias of the method for each of the 3 matrixes in the study.