Rapid short-column chromatography of amino acids: A method for blood and urine specimens in the diagnosis and treatment of metabolic disease

Methods are described for the rapid analysis of certain individual amino acids (e.g., homocystine) and of groups of amino acids (e.g., the branched-chain amino acids), which are relevant to particular metabolic diseases. All the methods use ion-exchange chromatography on a 20 × 0.9 cm column. These methods were developed especially for clinical application in the diagnosis and therapy of inborn errors of amino acid metabolism. All analyses are completed in less than 2.5 hr.