Selective determination of histamine by flow injection analysis

A flow injection analysis (FIA) method for the determination of histamine is described. Control of reaction timing allows exploitation of a transient, chemical-kinetic increase in selectivity that occurs when o-phthalaldehyde reacts with histamine. The molar fluorescence ratio (selectivity) of histamine/histidine reaches a maximum value of 800 in 32 s, precluding the need for separation of histamine from histidine, spermidine, and other potential interferences in biological samples. On-line dilution prevents matrix effects and affords a linear response up to approximately 4.45 mM histamine, or 500 mg of histamine free base/100 g. Under these conditions the detection limit (3 times peak-to-peak baseline noise) is 5.5 pg (corresponding to 0.60 mg of histamine free base/100 g of sample) and throughput is 60 injections per hour. The high sensitivity and high selectivity of the method allow the rapid determination of histamine in fish with minimal sample conditioning and will find application in the determination of endogenous histamine as well, such as in blood plasma and brain tissue.