The invention discloses a method for determining the content of gamma-
aminobutyric acid in red
yeast through a high-efficient liquid
chromatography. The method comprises the steps of (1) extracting the gamma-
aminobutyric acid: adding the measured red
yeast sample into water, ultrasonically extracting, centrifuging, and collecting the supernatant; (2) precipitating
alcohol: adding
ethanol and
salt solution into the supernatant to execute
alcohol precipitation, centrifuging the solution, and collecting the
alcohol precipitation supernatant; (3) carrying out
enzyme treatment: separating the
solvent from the alcohol
precipitation supernatant, and adding a composite enzymic preparation to execute
enzyme treatment; (4) carrying out
depigmentation: adsorbing the
enzyme treated concentrated solution onto a column, adsorbing the solution with resin, eluting the solution with
ammonia water; filtering the
elution solution by utilizing a micro-pore filter membrane, wherein the filtered liquid is the detected liquid; (5) executing pre-column
derivatization on the detected liquid, i.e. determining the content of the gamma-
aminobutyric acid by adopting the liquid
chromatography. By adopting the steps of alcohol precipitation, enzyme treatment and
depigmentation, the content of impurities in the gamma-aminobutyric acid can be effectively removed, the interference in the detection process can be reduced, the detection accuracy can be effectively improved, and the detection result is reliable and stable.