HPLC in biomedical and forensic analysis

Biomedical and forensic analysis are dealt with together in this chapter since for both of these application areas, the chromatographer encounters very similar types of samples. Biomedical analysts work with samples of biological fluids which is also the type of sample with which the forensic analyst primarily works. Other types of forensic samples are also often of a similar nature, in that low levels of analyte in a complex matrix are involved. However, in looking at biomedical and forensic analysis together, it will be observed that by virtue of the differences in analytical problems posed, the nature of the HPLC carried out may often be quite different. 

TaUe 10.1 Principal areas of application of HPLC in clinical chemistry 

Therapeutic drug monitoring Theophylline cyclosporin levels following transplants 

Metabolic profiling Amino acids in genetic disease purine and pyrimidines in genetie disease 

Enzyme assays Cytidine deaminase xanthine oxidase 

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Wujian Miao illustrated a time line of various events in the development of ECL till 2002 (Fig. 1.3) [1]. As the time went on, this field attracted bulk of people to do research on ECL basic theory, emitters, mechanisms, applications, etc. Hence, advancements in the area of ECL increased exponentially over more than 45 years. After a long journey of almost half a century, ECL has now grown to be an incredibly potent analytical technique and been extensively used in many areas, such as criminology, forensic, environment, biomedical, biowarfare agent detection immunoassay [3], etc. This technique has also been effectively employed as a detector of flow injection analysis (FIA), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), capillary electrophoresis (CE), and micro total analysis (pTAS) [13]. 

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