Ion Chromatographic and Capillary-zone Electrophoretic Detection of Accumulated Fluorine in Melanoma Cells Cultured in the <i>p</i>-Fluorobenzenesulfinate-containing Medium

In order to evaluate the possibility of using sodium p-fluorobenzenesulfinate (NaFBS) as a probe for magnetic resonance imaging with fluorine (19F-MRI) in diagnosis of melanoma, ion chromatography (IC) and capillary-zone electrophoresis (CZE) were applied to determination of fluoride ion (F-) in samples for melanoma and control cells cultured in the corresponding medium containing NaFBS at various concentrations. Under the conditions employed, a peak for F- was detected and identified on the chromatograms and electropherograms, and the F- level determined by IC and CZE was elevated depending on increase in the amount of NaFBS added to media, especially in melanoma cells. As the accelerated accumulation of F in melanoma cells was caused possibly due to enhanced generation of 6-fluorobenzenesulfonyldopa by the reaction of NaFBS with dopaquinone as an intermediate of the tyrosinase reaction, the results of IC and CZE analyses suggested that NaFBS may be a potential candidate 19F-MRI probe for diagnosing melanoma with the highly elevated tyrosinase activity.