High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of beta-alanine, beta-aminoisobutyric acid and gamma-aminobutyric acid in tissue extracts and urine of normal and (aminooxy)acetate-treated rats.

A method is described for the simultaneous determination of beta-alanine, beta-aminoisobutyric acid and gamma-aminobutyric acid in biological materials. Amino acids including these beta- and gamma-amino acids were derivatized with 4-dimethylaminoazobenzene-4'-sulfonyl (dabsyl) chloride and dabsyl amino acids formed were separated by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Dabsyl derivatives of these beta- and gamma-amino acids were well separated from other dabsyl-amino acids. The method was applied to the determination of these beta- and gamma-amino acids in trichloroacetic acid extracts of various tissues and to the urine of normal rats and those injected with (aminooxy)acetate (AOA). AOA injection (15 mg per kg of body mass) produced remarkable increase in beta-alanine contents in liver, kidney and urine (10.2, 4.6 and 25.7 times, respectively).