The invention relates to a method for determining the concentration of
asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) simultaneously with arginine and with
symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) in biological samples by means of
HPLC-MS-MS. The sample preparation consists exclusively of adding a
solution of isotope-labeled internal standards (.sup.13C.sub.6-arginine
and D.sub.6-ADMA) and of adding a mixture consisting of
acetonitrile/propionic acid/trifluoroacetic acid for precipitating
high-molecular proteins, the quantity and composition being realized in
such a manner that a bringing of the sample composition in line with the
composition of the mobile phase in the HPLC separation is achieved
without requiring a derivitization or extraction of the analytes. The
chromatographic separation of the analytes ensues on a silica normal
phase HPLC column while using a mobile phase consisting of
water/acetonitrile/propionic acid/trifluoroacetic acid, the volume ratio
of water to acetonitrile ranging from 2 to 98 to 30 to 70, the volume
percent of trifluoroacetic acid ranging from 0.01 to 0.5, the volume
percent of propionic acid being 10 to 100 times higher than
trifluoroacetic acid, and the optimized composition of the mobile phase
consists of acetonitrile/propionic acid/trifluoroacetic acid with
10/90/1/0.025 volume percents. The detection and quantification ensue by
means of tandem mass spectrometry with the following fragmentations being
observed: 175.2 m/z.fwdarw.70.1 m/z for arginine, 181.2 m/z.fwdarw.74.1
m/z for .sup.13C.sub.6-arginine, 203.2 m/z.fwdarw.172.1 m/z for SDMA,
203.2 m/z.fwdarw.46.1 m/z for ADMA and 209.2 m/z.fwdarw.70.1 m/z
D.sub.6-ADMA.