Procedures applied to detect desmosines in real samples
| Method of analysis | Advantages | Disadvantages | Limit of detection M |
| Amino acid analysis | Reliable, simple, not very expensive | Laborious and time-consuming; low to medium sensitivity | 10−5–10−4 |
| ELISA | Rapid and sensitive; applicable on tissues and physiological fluids | Use of antisera mainly directed against DES conjugates; partial cross-reactivity with IDES | 10−8–10−6 |
| RIA | Good sensitivity; applicable on tissues and physiological fluids | Use of radioactive material; partial cross-reactivity with other amino acids | 10−7–10−6 |
| HPLC isotope dilution | Good resolution and sensitivity; simultaneous detection of several cross-links | Laborious pretreatment procedures; use of radioactive material | 10−5 |
| Electrophoresis | Possibility of obtaining “fingerprints” of elastin digest | Low resolution of one-dimensional, better resolution of two-dimensional electrophoresis, but applying laborious pretreatment procedures | 10−5–10−4 |
| CE-UV | Good resolution | Laborious pretreatment concentration of samples | 10−5 |
| CE-LIF | Excellent resolution and sensitivity; all analyses may be performed on biological matrix without pretreatment | Need sample derivatisation with a fluorescent dye | 10−8 |
| MS; HPLC-MS | Good resolution and sensitivity; simultaneous detection of several cross-links | Laborious pretreatment procedures | 10−9–10−8 |
RIA: radioimmunoassay; CE: capillary electrophoresis; UV: ultraviolet; LIF: laser-induced fluorescence; MS: mass spectrometry; DES: desmosine; IDES: isodesmosine.