Determination of histamine by high-pH anion-exchange chromatography with electrochemical detection

A simple, sensitive and rapid method is described for determining histamine in alkaline media by anion-exchange chromatography with amperometric detection at a copper-based modified glassy carbon electrode. The influence of copper loading, applied potential and flow rate on the amperometric signal was evaluated. Under optimal chromatographic conditions, the detection limit for histamine (S/N=3) was 0.1 μM (corresponding to 5 pmol injected by a 50-μl sample loop). The linear range spanned from 5 to 500 μM (correlation coefficient=0.998). The proposed method allows a rapid and convenient quantitation of histamine in real matrices, such as canned tuna and red wine, without time-consuming clean-up or derivatisation procedures.