Because of its importance in the algal antioxidant system and marine sulphur cycle, more research is required on DMSO and therefore the choice of analytical techniques for DMSO measurements in biological samples needs to be further examined. To date, DMSO has mainly been quantified by gas chromatography following its chemical
MLN8237 to DMS using either titanium trichloride (TiCl3) (Del Valle et al., 2007, Harada et al., 2009, Husband and Kiene, 2007, Husband et al., 2012, Kiene and Gerard, 1994, Rellinger et al., 2009, Spiese et al., 2009 and Vila-Costa et al., 2006) or sodium borohydride (NaBH4) (Riseman and DiTullio, 2004, Sciare and Mihalopoulos, 2000, Sciare et al., 2002, Simό et al., 1996, Simό et al., 1997, Simό and Vila-Costa, 2006, Ui et al., 2004, Vila-Costa et al., 2008 and Wang et al., 2013), with other studies using the enzyme-based reduction method developed by Hatton et al. (1994) (Hatton and Wilson, 2007 and Simό et al., 199
cool or the
proton nuclear magnetic resonance technique (Zeyer et al., 1987). Although TiCl3 and NaBH4 are both in common use for the analysis of DMSO, their relative efficiencies have not been extensively assessed. Moreover, comparisons among studies that have used these two techniques independently suggested that reduction of DMSO with NaBH4 could result in significantly higher DMS concentrations than with TiCl3 (Spiese et al., 2009). Here we tested both reducing agents with the intention to assist future research in the selection of the most appropriate method for DMSO measurements in biological samples and to facilitate comparisons of DMSO analysis between studies that have used these reduction methods independently.
