Wound healing is a complex process and well-regulated cellular and biochemical cascade, initiated to restore tissue damage. This process can be divided in three different phases (inflammatory, proliferative and maturation) and each is characterized by certain events that required specific components. Nevertheless, wound healing can progress forward and backward depending on some intrinsic and extrinsic factors. If wound healing process is affected negatively, it can result in chronic wounds. Despite the development of chronic wounds is multifactorial, the nutritional factors have an essential role in their development [1-4].
The amino acid L-arginine is synthesized in the early phase of wound mending by inflammatory cells, mainly macrophages, but its levels become critically low after trauma [2]. Arginine is metabolized into citrulline; directly through the reaction by nitric oxide synthases or indirectly via conversion catalyzed by arginase in ornithine. Then ornithine is converted in citrulline.
In this study, a simple Liquid Chromatography method coupled with fluorescence detection (LC-FD) for the determination of arginine, citrulline and ornithine in human serum was developed. The derivatization of target analytes was included in pre-analytical phase of simple sample preparation based only on ultrafiltration.
The newly developed method will be used for determination of real samples and could help to improve treatment of patients, who would benefit from special attention.

Acknowledgement: The work is financed European Social Fund and the state budget of the Czech Republic Project no. CZ.1.07/2.3.00/30.0061.