Thin-layer chromatography of urinary carbohydrates. A comparative evaluation of procedures.

Ten procedures for thin-layer chromatography of carbohydrates in urine were compared. The procedures differ considerably in their sensitivity and ability to separate sugars of clinical importance. A procedure was developed that permitted several sugars to be identified in normal urine samples without prior desalting or concentration. Celite was used as adsorbent, anisaldehyde as location reagent. The procedure is simple and reproducible, and is readily modifed for quantification of sugars by thin-layer densitometry.