Quantification of major cannabinoids in cannabis products is normally performed using high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC)-based methods. We propose a cost-effective alternative method that successfully separates and quantifies 14 cannabinoids in a single run using capillary electrophoresis (CE) coupled with a UV detector in 18 min. The separation is carried out in 60% acetonitrile in the presence of 6.5 mM sodium hydroxide and 25 µM β-cyclodextrin, resulting in good separation of cannabinoids. Our CE method demonstrated the limit of detection between 1.2–1.8 µg/mL, with the linear range reaching up to 50 µg/mL. We validated the method performance by testing a plant extract and quantifying cannabinoid content. This method is the first to separate 14 cannabinoids in one run using a CE system with UV detection.

Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) gained significant interest within the last decade as a new source of biomarkers for the early detection of diseases and a promising tool for therapeutic applications. In this work, we present Extracellular Vesicles Quantitative Capillary Electrophoresis (EVqCE) to measure an average mass of RNA in EVs, determine EV concentrations and the degree of EV degradation after sample handling. We used EVqCE to analyze EVs isolated from conditioned media of three cancer cell lines. EVqCE employs capillary zone electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescent detection to separate intact EVs from free nucleic acids. After lysis of EVs with a detergent, the encapsulated nucleic acids are released. Therefore, the initial concentration of intact EVs is calculated based on a nucleic acid peak gain. EVqCE works in a dynamic range of EV concentrations from 108 to 1010 particles/mL. The quantification process can be completed in less than one hour and requires minimum optimization. Furthermore, the average mass of RNA was found to be in the range of 200–400 ag per particle, noting that more aggressive cancer cells have less RNA in EVs (200 ag per particle) than non-aggressive cancer cells (350 ag per particle). EVqCE works well for the degradation analysis of EVs. Sonication for 10 min at 40 kHz caused 85% degradation of EVs, 10 freeze-thaw cycles (from −80 °C to 22 °C) produced 40%, 14-day storage at 4 °C made 32%, and vortexing for 5 min caused 5% degradation. Presently, EVqCE cannot separate and distinguish individual EV populations (exosomes, microvesicles, apoptotic bodies) from each other. Still, it is tolerant to the presence of non-EV particles, protein-lipid complexes, and protein aggregates.

The legalization of cannabis has magnified the importance of determining the quantity and identification of cannabinoids. Both industry and consumers are highly interested in the content of cannabinoids available in their products, while health care professionals and regulators are concerned with the safety of cannabis. Quantification of major cannabinoids in products answers some of these concerns. Currently, popular methods of quantifying cannabinoids use high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). Still, these HPLC methods are limited to quantifying a small number of cannabinoids unless more powerful but more costly instruments are employed to achieve better analysis, such as UHPLC and mass spectrometry. We propose a quick method that successfully separates and quantifies 14 cannabinoids in a single run using capillary electrophoresis (CE) coupled with a UV detector in 25 minutes. Our CE method demonstrated the limit of detection between 1.2–1.8 µg/mL, with the detection range reaching up to 50 µg/mL.

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