High-performance liquid chromatography of glutathione conjugates. I: Ion-pair reversed-phase chromatography and UV detection

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the analysis of glutathione (GSH) conjugates derived from cancerogenic xenobiotics and their metabolites is described. The method is based on reversed-phase ion-pair chromatography using tetrabutylammonium hydrogen-sulphate and UV detection at 270 nm. The GSH conjugate, the cysteine conjugate, the corresponding mercapturic acid, and the electrophilic substrate can be assayed simultaneously in a single run. The method was applied to the determination of GSH S-transferase activity in the liver cytosol of rat, rabbit and man towards different electrophilic acceptors