1. J Pharm Biomed Anal. 2010 Feb 5;51(3):633-9. Epub 2009 Oct 2. Validation of a method for the quantitation of ghrelin and unacylated ghrelin by HPLC. Staes E, Rozet E, Ucakar B, Hubert P, Préat V. Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain Drug Research Institute, Unité de Pharmacie Galénique, UCL 73.20, Avenue Emmanuel Mounier 73, 1200 Brussels, Belgium. An HPLC/UV method was first optimized for the separation and quantitation of human acylated and unacylated (or des-acyl) ghrelin from aqueous solutions. This method was validated by an original approach using accuracy profiles based on tolerance intervals for the total error measurement. The concentration range that achieved adequate accuracy extended from 1.85 to 59.30microM and 1.93 to 61.60microM for acylated and unacylated ghrelin, respectively. Then, optimal temperature, pH and buffer for sample storage were determined. Unacylated ghrelin was found to be stable in all conditions tested. At 37 degrees C acylated ghrelin was stable at pH 4 but unstable at pH 7.4, the main degradation product was unacylated ghrelin. Finally, this validated HPLC/UV method was used to evaluate the binding of acylated and unacylated ghrelin to liposomes. PMID: 19875264 [PubMed - in process]