Monitoring of alcohol markers by capillary electrophoresis

Abstract

Work dealing with the monitoring of alcohol markers by CE performed during the past two decades led to the development of assays for carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT), ethyl sulfate, ethyl glucuronide, and phosphatidylethanol in body fluids and first attempts for the detection of the urinary 5-hydroxytryptophol/5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid ratio and stable hemoglobin acetaldehyde adducts. Most notably are assays for CDT that have been commercialized and are being used in many laboratories under routine conditions. This paper provides insight into the development, specifications, and use of the currently known CE-based assays suitable to detect alcohol markers. The achievements reached so far indicate that CE is an attractive technology for monitoring alcohol markers. This is particularly seen with the CDT assays that do not require an elaborate sample pretreatment and thus could be fully automated for high-throughput analyses on multicapillary instruments.

Monitoring of transferrin isoforms in biological samples by capillary electrophoresis

“…Many laboratories using the CAPILLARYS assay are currently classifying samples with CDT values >1.6% as positive, those with values <1.3% as negative, and those with CDT values between 1.3 and 1.6% as grey zone. The cutoff used for the Helena V8 assay is 1.60% whereas the cutoff values for the CEofix assays and the Verona assay are 1.8 or 1.7% . Overall, there is high correlation between data obtained by the different CZE assays and for the comparison of CZE data to those obtained by HPLC .…”

“…Other efforts revealed that resolution between the peaks of disialo‐Tf and trisialo‐Tf can have an impact on the cutoff value. With incomplete separation of disialo‐Tf and trisialo‐Tf, lower cutoff values were obtained . The cutoff value for the CAPILLARYS assay suggested by the manufacturer of the kit is 1.3%.…”

“…Alternatively, fluorescence detection of Tf isoforms could be more specific than monitoring UV absorbance. The use of lamp‐based fluorescence detection with excitation at 254 nm and collection of fluorescence with a 280 nm cutoff filter, however, did not provide any better data . The coupling of CZE with MS would be the best way to monitor specific Tf isoforms.…”

CE-MS in Forensic Sciences with Focus on Forensic Toxicology

“…They can be detected for an extended time length after complete elimination of ethanol in blood and urine. EtG and EtS indicate recent ethanol consumption (up to 60 h) with high specificity and selectivity and thus cover a clinically and forensically important time window between short-term markers, such as ethanol, and long-term markers, such as CDT [112,113].…”

“…After a sustained intake of ethanol, PEth is accumulated in the cells and may remain in circulation for more than 2 weeks. Thus, PEth is determined in whole blood and represents a marker for long-term alcohol abuse [112,113].…”