Comparison of capillary electrophoretic and liquid chromatographic determination of hypoxanthine and xanthine for the diagnosis of xanthinuria

A capillary electrophoretic (CE) method for the determination of hypoxanthine and xanthine in urine was developed to diagnose xanthinuria. The linearity was excellent up to 200 mu mol l(-1) for the two compounds and the limit of quantitation was 2 mu mol l(-1). A comparison o the results obtained using CE was made with those obtained by the high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) technique described previously. With regard to specificity, sensitivity and reproducibility, the results are similar but CE is more rapid than HPLC.