A novel luminol-based chemiluminescence method for detecting acetylcholine

Abstract

Aim. To develop а new simple non-enzymatic method for the determination of acetylcholine (ACh) by the chemiluminescent reaction of luminol under conditions of the enzymatic hydrolysis of acetylcholine (pH 8.5).Experimental part. The method proposed is based on the perhydrolysis reaction of ACh by the excess ofhydrogen peroxide with the formation of peracetic acid. The latter was further determined by the activation effect of the luminol chemiluminescent oxidation reaction in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. The analytical signal was the summary luminescence (Σ) registered within certain time.Results and discussion. The pH range of the analytically applicable system was from 8.2 to 8.5. The effect of ACh + H2O2 incubation period on the reaction progress was also studied. The increase of the incubation period enhanced the sensitivity of the method (the limit of detection (LOD)), but because of practical reasons (especially the detection speed) and practical experience the incubation period was set to 30 min. The linear dependence was observed in the acetylcholine chloride concentration range of (0.8 – 2.8) × 10-4 mol/L. While determining acetylcholine chloride in the concentration range of (1.1 – 2.2) × 10-4 mol/L the relative standard deviation (RSD) did notexceed 3 % ((X – μ) × 100 %/μ = –0.5…+0.5 %). The Limit of Quantitation (LOQ, 10S) was 7.7 × 10-5 mol/L.Conclusions. A new non-enzymatic kinetic method for the chemiluminescent determination of ACh in aqueous solutions and the pharmaceutical formulation Acetylcholinchlorid Injeel® has been proposed. This method is simple, fast, inexpensive, and thus appropriate for the routine ACh quality control in the laboratories of hospitals, pharmaceutical industries and research institutions.Key words: acetylcholine; chemiluminescence method