Determination of gadolinium-based magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography

Abstract

MEKC with DAD was applied to detect six Gd-based contrasting agents (CAs) (Gd-DTPA-BMA (Omniscan), Gd-HPDO3A (ProHance), Gd-DOTA (Dotarem), Gd-AAZTA, Gd-BOPTA (Multihance) and Gd-DTPA (Magnevist)) commonly used in MRI diagnostics. The achieved LODs ranged between 0.40 and 20 μM and the optimized method gave excellent precision, especially when two internal standards were applied (less than 0.34 RSD% for migration time). The MEKC technique made it possible to determine the CAs in urine and serum samples of patients having a therapeutic dose. Due to the SDS content of the running buffer, the serum samples can be directly injected to analyze Gd-based CAs without interference of high protein content.