Evaluation of the stability of polyamines in human serum at different storage temperatures using capillary electrophoresis with indirect ultraviolet detection

Polyamines are low molecular weight compounds that are present in all living organisms. They are related to the pathological processes, and have been studied as biomarkers for tumor progression, being analyzed in patients' biological fluids. However, polyamines can undergo degradation in serum samples, depending on storage conditions, which impairs their quantification in these matrices. In this work, capillary electrophoresis using indirect ultraviolet detection has been developed and applied to evaluate the stability of polyamines [cadaverine (Cad), putrescine (Put), spermine (Spm), and spermidine (Spd)] in human serum at different storage temperatures. By using this method, Cad, Put, Spm, and Spd were separated in less than 4 min. The range of the correlation coefficients was 0.993-0.998. The corresponding limits of detection and quantification were as follows (in mg L-1 ): Spm: 0.209 and 0.697; Spd: 0.165 and 0.549; Put: 0.189 and 0.632; Cad: 0.125 and 0.417. Besides, the coefficient of variation was lower than 1% for all analytes and the recovery was 92%-110%. The method was successfully applied for polyamines spiked in human serum samples from healthy people. The results showed that the degradation of polyamines was lower in samples stored in a freezer (-20°C).