Spectrophotometric Determination of Urine Bilirubin by P-Dimethylaminobenzaldehyde
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ANALYTICAL SCIENCES JUNE 1998, VOL. 14 609 1998 © The Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry Notes Spectrophotometric Determination of Urine Bilirubin by p-Dimethylaminobenzaldehyde Yuji SUZUKI Saitama College of Health, 519, Kamiokubo, Urawa, Saitama 338–0824, Japan Keywords Urine bilirubin assay, spectrophotometry, bilirubinuria, p-dimethylaminobenzaldehyde p-Dimethylaminobenzaldehyde (p-DMABA) in the solved with 1 dm3 of a strong hydrochloric acid solu- presence of strong hydrochloric acid has been widely tion. This reagent was stored in a refrigerator. used to determine urobilinogen in urine increasing due Bilirubin standard serum: Nescauto Bilirubin to certain pathologic status1,2, but has not yet been Standard (total bilirubin concentration 138 mg dm-3, applied to measuring bilirubin, a precursor of urobilino- direct bilirubin concentration 88 mg dm-3) was used as gen. However, the author reexamined the reaction of a standard material by redissolving it with distilled this reagent with bilirubin and the coexisting con- water. This standard solution was prepared just before stituents in serum by changing the preparation for the use. reagent, and showed that the serum total bilirubin can A solution of the coexisting constituents in urine: 1.0 also be determined by applying this reagent directly to g of glucose, 10 mg of tyrosine, 50 mg of tryptophan, serum.3 50 mg of phenylalanine, 0.5 g of hydroxyproline, 5.0 g Under physiological conditions bilirubin is present in of albumin, 1.0 g of creatinine, 1.0 g of ascorbic acid, small amounts in blood, and is excreted into the bile 1.0 g of urea, 20 mg of uric acid, 1.0 g of ammonia, 0.1 through the liver. However, under pathological condi- g of 5-aminolevulinic acid, 0.2 g of hippuric acid, 1.0 g tions, different forms of liver damage, its concentration of acetone, 1.0 g of acetoacetic acid, 0.1 g of 3-hydroxy- in the blood increases, and its conjugated form is also butylic acid, 0.1 g of 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid (5- excreted into the urine.4 Therefore, it is also very HIAA), 10 mg of indican, 1.0 g of oxalic acid, 1.0 g of important to measure the urine bilirubin concentration citric acid, 10 mg of biliverdin, 20 mg of urobilin, and in order to grasp the accurate condition of the liver 20 mg of stercobilin were dissolved separately in 100 function. In general, it is difficult to accurately deter- cm3 of distilled water. mine urinary constituents by the method which is used A solution of urobilinogen was prepared by reducing to measure serum constituents, because the estimation urobilin as follows.5 To 50 cm3 of a 100 mg dm-3 uro- is often hampered by various colored substances and bilin solution, 25 cm3 of 200 g dm-3 ferric sulfate solu- nonspecific-reactive coexisting interferences concen- tion and 25 cm3 of 2.5 mol dm-3 sodium hydroxide trated by the kidney. In this study the author attempted solution were added, and allowed to stand in the to design a spectrophotometric assay of the urine biliru- absence of sunlight or bright daylight at room tempera- bin concentration, using p-DMABA. ture for about 3 h. The reaction mixture was then fil- trated in order to eliminate a brown precipitate. The filtrate was used in the experiments. The concentration Materials and Methods of urobilinogen was estimated by a method of Henry et al. using Phenol Red as an artificial standard.6 Reagents Most of the reagents used were obtained from Wako Procedure of the urine bilirubin assay Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd., Osaka Japan, and were A reaction of the patients’ urine and the bilirubin of the best quality available. Biliverdin, ditaurobiliru- standard serum was performed as follows. If turbidity bin, urobilin and stercobilin were purchased from exists in urine, centrifugation of the sample is required. Funakoshi, Ltd., Tokyo Japan, bilirubin standard serum To 0.1 cm3 of the sample, 2.0 cm3 of the p-DMABA from Nippon Shoji Kaisha Ltd., Osaka Japan, and indi- reagent was added, well mixed and reacted for 30 min can from Sigma Chemical Co., USA. at 37°C. The absorbance was then recorded at 640 nm A strong hydrochloric acid solution, 2.8 mol dm-3: with a Hitachi 7010 Clinical Spectrophotometer against 250 cm3 of concentrated hydrochloric acid was diluted a sample blank consisting of 0.1 cm3 of the urine and to 1000 cm3 with distilled water. 2.0 cm3 of 2.8 mol dm-3 hydrochloric acid solution. A p-DMABA reagent: 200 g of p-DMABA was dis- When the concentration of urobilinogen in urine is 610 ANALYTICAL SCIENCES JUNE 1998, VOL. 14 more than 3+, which corresponds to about 80 mg dm-3 bilirubin, forming a stable green color with an absorp- measured by the semiquantitative method (UROPAPER tion maximum at about 640 nm. However, in many “Eiken” MUTI2 purchased from Eiken Chemical Co., urine samples having a negative test result for bilirubin, Ltd. Tokyo, Japan), it should first be removed by this reagent reacted with certain coexisting con- extraction, as follows. To 1.0 cm3 of urine one drop of stituents, giving a yellowish or red product, the absorp- a concentrated hydrochloric acid and 5.0 cm3 of petro- tion of which at 640 nm was very small. Thus, the leum ether7 were added, and well mixed. After a few reactivities of the urinary coexisting constituents minutes the lower layer was used for a bilirubin assay. described in the materials and methods were examined. Urea, albumin, tryptophan, 5-HIAA, indican, urobilino- gen, acetoacetic acid, hippuric acid, hydroxyproline Results and ascorbic acid formed a colored product. The reac- tion of urea, hippuric acid, hydroxyproline, ascorbic Effect of the hydrochloric acid concentration on the acid, indican and urobilinogen rapidly came to comple- color reaction of bilirubin tion, and that of tryptophan reached a maximum in The reaction of urinary bilirubin, ditaurobilirubin, 5- about 15 min. On the other hand, the reaction of albu- HIAA and albumin with p-DMABA was examined, min, 5-HIAA, and acetoacetic acid was relatively slow, changing the hydrochloric acid concentration from 2.8 and did not come to completion even after 30 min. The to 5.6 mol dm-3. In the reaction of these substances molar absorptivity of the colored product of urobilino- with p-DMABA urinary bilirubin and ditaurobilirubin gen was larger than that of the green product formed gave a green color, and 5-HIAA and albumin formed a from bilirubin. The spectral characteristics of the purple and red color, respectively. In the reaction of formed colored product and their reaction rates are urinary bilirubin and ditaurobilirubin, the changes in summarized in Table 1. the rate constant due to the hydrochloric acid concen- tration were comparatively small, while in the reaction Proportionality of the color intensity of 5-HIAA and albumin it markedly increased due to The relationship between the color intensity and the an increase in the acid concentration. Although the amount of bilirubin was examined. The absorbance at absorbance of the colored product of urinary bilirubin 640 nm was proportional for up to at least 200 mg dm-3 was almost constant over a wide range of hydrochloric of bilirubin. The apparent molar absorptivity of the acid concentrations, that of ditaurobilirubin decreased colored product at 640 nm was 2.8´107 mol-1 cm2. due to an increase in the acid concentration. The absorbances of 5-HIAA and albumin increased as the Precision of the present method hydrochloric acid concentration increased. Since the The precision was examined by analyzing several relative absorbances and rate constants of 5-HIAA and patients’ urines 10 times. The intra-assay RSD of the albumin to those of urinary bilirubin are small in the urine at mean bilirubin concentrations of 15.3, 25.3, range of a low concentration of hydrochloric acid, 2.8 30.4 and 46.7 mg dm-3 were less than 1.2%. The inter- mol dm-3 was selected for the hydrochloric acid con- assay RSD of the urine at mean bilirubin concentrations centration in order to reduce the effects of the coexist- of 24.6 and 85.8 mg dm-3 were less than 2.5%. ing constituents as much as possible. Analytical recoveries Effect of the p-DMABA concentration on the color The analytical recoveries were examined by adding reaction of bilirubin one amount of ditaurobilirubin to urine samples of fif- The reaction rates of the bilirubin standard serum, teen patients. Those ranged from 98.5 to 107.4% patients’ serum bilirubin and patients’ urine bilirubin (mean 102.0%). were examined, changing the p-DMABA concentration from 50 to 300 g per dm3 of 2.8 mol dm-3 hydrochloric Measurement value of bilirubin negative urine acid. In most of the tested specimens the reaction rate The measurement values of 80 spot urines with a neg- came to a maximum at a p-DMABA concentration of ative result for bilirubin and with a concentration of around 200 g per dm3 of the hydrochloric acid, while urobilinogen ranging from normal to about 10 mg dm-3, the absorbances gradually increased as the hydrochloric which were tested by a reagent strip (Pretest b and u for acid increased. From these results, although the color bilirubin and urobilinogen in urine purchased from intensity of the urinary bilirubin was not maximum, Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd. Osaka, Japan), 200 g per dm3 of the hydrochloric acid was selected for were examined by the present method and the two the p-DMABA concentration in order to shorten the diazo methods using caffeine–sodium benzoate10 or time required for the assay.