CAPILLARY ZONE ELECTROPHORESIS OF ORGANIC-ACIDS IN SERUM OF CRITICALLY ILL CHILDREN

Capillary zone electrophoresis with indirect UV detection was found to be suitable for the determination of organic acids in serum. Serum can be analysed directly without any deproteination in a capillary coated with linear polyacrylamide. With 10 mM epsilon-aminocaproic acid-10 mM mandelic acid (pH 3.8) as the operational electrolyte, anions such as pyruvate, phosphate, citrate, malate, acetoacetate and lactate can be determined in 12 min. In quantitative analysis, the calibration line for lactate is linear over the range 0-10 mM. The detection limit for citrate was 8 mu M. The effect of the chloride concentration on the migration times of minor peaks is discussed. The potential of the method was demonstrated by analysing sera from several critically ill children.