Muramic acid detection in mammalian tissues by gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry

Muramic acid is a component of the peptidoglycan moiety of cell walls of all bacteria and blue-green algae and is not found elsewhere in nature. A gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry assay for muramic acid in tissue is described. The application of the method to the detection of muramic acid in tissues of rats with streptococcal cell wall-induced polyarthritis is demonstrated. Because the method has the potential to measure total bacterial biomass in tissue, it should prove to be an important assay in elucidating the etiological role of bacterial debris in chronic inflammatory diseases in humans.