Abstract :
A capillary electrophoresis method has been developed for the determination of d-serine in neural samples. d/l-serine was tagged with naphthalene-2,3-dicarboxaldehyde (CBI-d/l-Ser), and the separation of CBI-d/l-Ser enantiomer was achieved by using a dual chiral selector system consisting of (beta)-cyclodextrin ((beta)-CD) and chiral micelles formed by sodium deoxycholate (SDC). No resolution was observed when either (beta)-CD or SDC was used alone. Moreover, the combined use of (beta)-CD with achiral micelles of sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) exhibited no resolving effect. With laser induced fluorescence detection, the limit of detection was 3.0 × 10^-8 M Ser. Under the separation conditions selected, no other amino acids co-eluted with l-/d-Ser enantiomers. Using the present method, d-Ser level in Aplysia ganglia homogenates was found to vary significantly from animal to animal. Interestingly, d-Ser was not detected in single neurons isolated from Aplysia ganglia.
