Measurement of serum T4 concentration by high performance liquid chromatography

Although RIA techniques for the measurement of serum T4 have been extremely useful, this methodology has several disadvantages, including the requirement for the use of radioisotopes, various levels of thyronine cross-reactivity, and the ability to measure only a single iodothyronine in one assay. We have developed a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for quantitating serum T4 that utilizes the detection of dansyl-T4 compounds and obviates the problems described for RIA techniques. Serum samples were extracted with ethanol and then chloroform, reacted with dansyl chloride, and, after n-heptane extraction, placed directly on column. Utilizing this technique, dansyl-T4 was easily separated and identified. The sensitivity of detection of the dansylated-T4 in serum was 1 microgram/dl, and linearity was observed when increasing standard T4 concentrations were employed. Sensitivity to 10 ng/dl (100 fmol on column) was achieved when T4 was added to buffer. The coefficients of variation were 4.8% and 2.1% for normal and high serum samples, respectively. When 39 random serum samples were anayzed both by HPLC and RIA, there was concordance of these techniques, since the derived correlation coefficient was 0.94. In summary, the present study demonstrates that serum T4 concentrations can be measured by HPLC and that these measurements agree remarkably well with those obtained by RIA. Because of the inherent advantages of HPLC methodology over that of RIA, this technique of measurement of T4 may have wide applicability to the measurement of iodothyronines.