A useful procedure for detection of polyamines in biological samples as a potential diagnostic tool in cancer diagnosis

Background: Polyamines present in human body are frequently considered as markers of occurrence of cancer. Therefore, the availability of simple and efficient method for determination of their level in body liquids and tissues is of some interest. Methods: Supported liquid membrane technology coupled with HPLC seems to be an appropriate technique to follow the level of polyamines in human blood and urine. Thus, the membranes of two different geometries: flat sheet and hollow fiber were studied as a mean for separation and enrichment of studied polyamines from urine and tissue samples in order to prepare samples to be analyzed by HPLC. Conclusions: Developed extraction systems offer an interesting alternative to traditional techniques such as: liquid-liquid or solid-phase extraction due to several features, which are: very high enrichment of polyamines without previous work-up, simple procedure of extraction and tiny volume of organic solvents used. This enables efficient determination of their levels in body liquids.