INTRODUCTION: The interest in vitamin D has increased significantly in recent years. Epidemiological studies conducted over the past 25 years have shown a steady increase in vitamin D deficiency. The diagnostic marker of choice to determine vitamin D levels is the concentration of 25-hidroxy-vitamin D (25(OH)D) in the fractions D2 (25(OH)D2) and D3 (25(OH)D3). OBJECTIVE: To develop an analytical method using high-performance liquid chromatography with diode-array detection (HPLC-DAD) for the determination of 25(OH)D2 and 25(OH)D3 in plasma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 25(OH)D3 and 25(OH)D2 were extracted from plasma samples with hexane and dodecaphenone was used as internal standard. The separation was performed in an ACE 5 C18 column, with particle size of 5 µm (4,6 × 150 mm), mobile phase methanol-water (80:20, v/v) and quantification at 265 nm. RESULTS: Accuracy was in the range of 98.4 to 107.5%. Intra-assay precision was between 6.5 and 9.2% for 25(OH)D3 and 3.7 and 8.7 for 25(OH)D2. Inter-assay precision was between 2.9 and 6% for 25(OH)D3 and 4 and 4.5 for 25(OH)D2. The limit of quantification was 10 ng/l. Concentrations of 25(OH)D3 in samples from 32 elderly patients were between 10.1 and 32.4 ng/ml, characterizing vitamin D deficiency in this group. DISCUSSION: The method allowed the quantification of 25(OH)D2 and 25(OH)D3. Furthermore, the sample preparation was relatively simple and fast. The method was selective with an adequate separation of metabolites and internal standard with no interfering substances. CONCLUSION: Not only did the developed method show suitable analytical performance, but it may also be applied in clinical conditions.
Vitamin D3; 25-hidroxy-vitamin D3; 25-hidroxy-vitamin D2; HPLC
