Applications of HPLC in clinical diagnostics

HPLC is a separation technique in which the mobile phase is an aqueous solution or an organic solvent that is miscible with water, and the compounds of interest are dissolved in water or an organic solvent such as methanol. The major advantage of the technique is the flexibility it allows in choosing the stationary and mobile phases that best separate the particular sample components. More than half of the types of columns used in HPLC are reverse phase; around a quarter are normal phase; about 14% are ion-exchange columns. Obtaining high resolution at high flow rates is the key requirement of any HPLC system. Separation of the different components of a mixture is achieved by allowing the sample to migrate through the column at selected experimental conditions. Discrete bands are formed because the different components of the mixture migrate through the column at different rates.