Determination of the blood concentrations of cyanate after intravenous administration to patients with sickle-cell disease.

Abstract

Abstract A method for the determination of free cyanate in micromolar concentrations in blood is described. Cyanate is converted quantitatively to S-carbamylcysteine in the presence of excess cysteine and dithionite at pH 7.4; the amount of S-carbamylcysteine formed is measured by amino-acid analysis. For standard solutions, the accuracy and precision of the method is within 4 per cent. With this procedure we have been able to determine that a single pharmacologically effective dose of cyanate disappears from the circulation of sickle-cell anemia patients with a half-time in the range of 30 to 40 minutes after intravenous administration.