Establishment of a Method for Determination of Molecular-Size Distribution of Human Serum Albumin by Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography / 中国药学杂志

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To establish a determination method of molecular-size distribution of human serum albumin (HSA) by ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC). METHODS: An UPLC method was developed to specifically determine the polymers and other components in HSA on UPLC PROTEIN BEH SEC analysis column with Waters Alliance UPLC system and Waters UPLC TUV detector. The separation was performed using a mobile phase consisting of PBS at a flow rate of 0.6 mL•min-1 and the UV detection wavelength was set at 280 nm. HSA samples were diluted to different concentrations (0.5-20 mg•mL-1) to confirm the optimal concentration range of the injection. The change of component percentage and the linear relationship between HSA concentration and chromatographic peak height were confirmed and the molecular-size distribution was calculated by area normalization method. Within the optimum injection concentration range, the national control sample for HSA was diluted to 12 mg•mL-1 and tested by UPLC method and the methodology was confirmed. Twenty batches of HSA samples were determined by both UPLC and existing HPLC methods, and the samples were determined in parallel. The consistency of the methods was compared and the method was reconfirmed. RESULTS: The UPLC retention time of HSA polymer was 1.469 min, of dimer was 1.972 min, and of monomer was 2.267 min, respectively. The resolution of dimer and monomer was 2.20 and the USP tailing of monomer peak was 1.18 respectively. In the range of the injection concentrations, 0.5-20 mg•mL-1, there was linear relationship between the concentrations of the components of 11 HAS samples, including polymer, dimer and monomer peak, and the peak area%, peak height, peak area, and the squares of linear correlation coefficient were all greater than 0.997 0. The components peak area percentage of HSA samples remained relatively stable within the concentration range of 10-16 mg•mL-1 (total injection amount of 100-160 μg). The RSDs of the percentage of polymers were 0.00% (n=3, 10 mg•mL-1), 0.10% (n=3, 12 mg•mL-1), and 0.10% (n=3, 16 mg•mL-1), respectively. The UPLC method was used to determine the national control sample for human albumin of 12 mg•mL-1, and the mean value of peak area% was 5.62% (n=10). The results were consistent with those of the parallel determination by HPLC (5.58%), both of which were in accordance with the quality control range of the national standard for human albumin. The RSD of the percentage of the peak area of the polymers in national standard for human albumin by UPLC was 0.40% (n=10). The HPLC and UPLC methods were used to determine the polymer peak area percentage of 20 batches of HSA samples from 7 domestic and foreign enterprises at the concentration of 12 mg•mL-1. The correlation coefficient of the two methods was 0.996 0 (P> 0.05) and there was no significant difference between the two methods (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Compared with the traditional HPLC method, the detection time of HSA SEC by the proposed UPLC method is shortened by at least 10 times, and the accuracy and repeatability of the determination are satisfactory. UPLC method can save much more analysis time, is simple and much faster, and can be used for high-throughput determination of molecular-size distribution of human serum albumin.