Rapid determination of γ-amino butytic acid using amino acid analyzer

A method for rapid separating and determining γ-amino butytic acid(GABA) in plant products by using the HITACHI L-8800 amino acid analyzer was developed.The time required for the new procedure was 30 min in comparison to 53 min for the standard analysis.The determination results using the two methods were similar.At GABA concentration of 100 nmol·ml-1,the coefficient of variation of the peak potential and peak area was 0.17% and 0.23%,respectively.The recovery rates of GABA with the new procedures was 97.89%-101.2%.The relative errors of the determination in brown rice and traditional Chinese medicines by using the two methods were less than 3%.It was thus concluded that this modified method was stable,rapid,accurate and suitable for the determination of γ-amino butytic acid.