Catecholamines chromatographic methods

Vaarman A, Kask A, Maeorg U. 2002. Novel and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic methods based on electrochemical coulometric assay detection for simultaneous determination of catecholamines, kynure-nine and indole derivatives of tryptophan. J Chrom B 769 145-153. 

Imai, K., Sugiura, M., and Tamura, Z., Catecholamines in rat tissues and serum determined by gas chromatographic method, Chem. Pharrn. Bull., 19, 409, 1971. 

As with the catecholamines, fluorescence methods have also been reported for urinary metanephrine analysis. Fluorescent derivatization of the metanephrines NM and MN by chemical oxidation was based on modification of the trihydroxyindole reaction used for catecholamines. The individual metanephrines were measured following chromatographic separation and fluorescent derivatization or through the formation of differential fluorescent compounds by oxidation at different pH levelsSince the stability of the fluorescent products was variable, with some products decomposing within 10 min,this method has limited application in current practice. Other early methods for analysis of NM and MN included electrophoresis and paper and thin-layer chromatography. These assays were technically complex and had poor analytical sensitivity. 

Organic extraction methods The w-butanol/heptane extraction for 5-HT in which 5-HT (and catecholamines) are finally extracted into acid (Curzon and Green, 1970) has been modified for LC by simple reduction of the volumes involved (Ponzio and Jonsson, 1979 Marsden, 1981). Other organic solvent extractions previously described have been adapted to the chromatographic methods. These include extraction of amine metabolites into ethyl acetate followed by evaporation to dryness (Cross and Joseph, 1981) and homogenization in formic acid/acetone (15 85 v/ v) followed by centrifugation and evaporation for the determination of NE, DA, 5-HTP, 5-HT, and 5-HIAA (Loullis et al., 1979). In both cases the residues were resuspended in samples of the mobile phase prior to injection onto the column. 

Colorimetric assays used in endocrinological procedures are also often subject to drug interference. We have observed an interesting interference in a patient with carcinoid. The patient excreted 400 mg of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) and when a vanillylmandclic acid (VMA) determination was performed by a nonspecific diazo method, the value was reported to be 375 mg. The catecholamines were just above normal. There was an immediate suggestion that the patient also had a pheochromocytoma. However, when a specific chromatographic VMA method was used, the value was found to be within normal limits. Subse-... 

There are a number of gas chromatographic procedures for the determination of the catecholamines. Methods generally accepted are making the trimethylsilyl ether derivative of the alcoholic group after using diazomethane to prepare the methyl ester and the heptafluorobutyryl derivative. The ethyl esters have been used for the separation of HVA and isoHVA and mass spectrometry applied to study their characterization. 

The determination of catecholamines requires a highly sensitive and selective assay procedure capable of measuring very low levels of catecholamines that may be present. In past years, a number of methods have been reported for measurement of catecholamines in both plasma and body tissues. A few of these papers have reported simultaneous measurement of more than two catecholamine analytes. One of them utilized Used UV for endpoint detection and the samples were chromatographed on a reversed-phase phenyl analytical column. The procedure was slow and cumbersome because ofdue to the use of a complicated liquid-liquid extraction and each chromatographic run lasted more than 25 min with a detection Umit of 5-10 ng on-column. Other sensitive HPLC methods reported in the literature use electrochemical detection with detection limits 12, 6, 12, 18, and 12 pg for noradrenaline, dopamine, serotonin, 5-hydroxyindoleace-tic acid, and homovanillic acid, respectively. The method used very a complicated mobile phase in terms of its composition while whilst the low pH of 3.1 used might jeopardize the chemical stability of the column. Analysis time was approximately 30 min. Recently reported HPLC methods utilize amperometric end-point detection. 

Reviews of the different assay methods for catecholamines and biogenic amines are not readily available. Gas-chromatographic and spectrofluorometric methods of analyzing catecholamines have been compared. In another comparative study it has been concluded that replacement of personnel employed in t.l.c. 

Precolumn derivatization methods include 1,2-diphenylethylenediamine treatment, dansylation of E, NE and DA, derivatization of NE and DA by o-phthalaldehyde and mercaptoethanol and derivatization of catecholamines with 9-fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl chloride (FMOC-Cl). Derivatization with o-phthalaldehyde increases the sensitivity of NE and DA, but E is not measured because only primary amines are derivatized. Co-analysis of catecholamines, metanephrines and other related compounds by combined electrochemical oxidation and fluorescence derivatization had also been reported. ° This approach involves sequential chromatographic separation, coulometric oxidation and final chemical derivatization with 1,2-diphenylethylenediamine to fluorescent products. 

In addition to more or less complete amino acid separations, suitable chromatographic systems for the rapid determination of selected amino acids [4-amino-butyric acid (GABA) [336], histidine and 3-methylhisti-dine [367] or a group of selected amino acids, such as those involved in the urea cycle (arginine, citrulline, ornithine, agmatine) [368], have been reported. Precolumn derivative formation with OPA/R-SH reagents is also suited to the automated establishment of peptide maps [369]. A number of authors have published methods for the sensitive determination of aminoglycoside antibiotics [365,370—373]. The method has also found application for the determination of histamine and its methylation products [374—376], catecholamines and serotonin [377—379] and polyamines [380]. 

Metal complexation reactions are very convenient for fluorescence derivatization as they are fast and can be driven to completion by adding excess of reagent. These characteristics made them especially suitable for postcolumn derivatization in chromatographic separations, HPLC, and capillary electrophoresis (CE). An example of the use of complexation reaction is a CE postcolumn method developed for the determination of catecholamines and related compounds. The method is based on the ternary complex formed with Tb + ions, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and the catecholic quencher concentration exceeds 10 " moll... 

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