A recently reported methodology for amino acid analysis by HPLC has been adapted for quantification of N-epsilon-(2-propenal)lysine (a modified lysine by reaction with malondialdehyde that has been found in enzymatic digests of foods and in urine) in biological samples. We describe its use for investigating the in vitro degradation of N-epsilon-(2-propenal)lysine using rat tissue homogenates. Lysine dipeptide, used as a control in the incubation mixtures, and the lysine released by the hydrolytic action of the homogenates in the in vitro incubations are quantified in the same way. The samples are subjected to a cleanup prederivatization step using PD-10 disposable columns (Pharmacia). This allows precolumn derivatization with diethylethoxymethylenemalonate (50 min, 50 degrees C) and resolution of the derivatives of the compounds of interest by reversed-phase HPLC (binary gradient, 45 min) with quantification based on the uv absorption of the derivatives at 280 nm (detection limits below 1 pmol). The entire analysis takes 110 min. This method can be of general use for the determination of N-epsilon-(2-propenal)lysine in the context of research dealing with protein deterioration by reaction with malondialdehyde in biological systems and in foods. A method for the synthesis of N-epsilon-(2-propenal)lysine, used as external standard for the HPLC analysis, is described.