Measurement of malondialdehyde in plasma by high performance liquid chromatography with fluorimetric detection.

The thiobarbituric acid test for malondialdehyde is widely used as an indicator of lipid peroxidation and free radical activity. We describe a simple and sensitive high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for measuring the malondialdehyde-thiobarbituric acid adduct using fluorimetric detection. Extraction into organic solvent or other complex sample preparation is not required and the assay is sensitive to less than 0.05 mumol/L. This method could easily be applied to any setting where a measure of lipid peroxidation is required.