Determination of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 in human plasma by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with...

A method for the determination of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3, the major metabolite of vitamin D3 in human plasma, using a non-radioactive internal standard and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with UV detection (265 nm) has been developed. The method was applied to the determination of the metabolite in plasma from healthy subjects (n = 25) and from patients with chronic renal failure (n = 12). 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 3-sulfate, a major conjugated metabolite of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3, was also determined and the correlation between the concentrations of these metabolites was examined. The study showed that almost equal amounts of both compounds were detected in the plasma of healthy subjects, however, in two subjects, the amount of sulfate in the free form was found to be about twice as high as normally detected. In contrast, the free form was predominant in the plasma of patients with chronic renal failure and the sulfate was not detected in four patients.