Routine measurement of plasma catecholamines in clinical pharmacology by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection

• Published in: Journal of chromatography. Biomedical applications 1989, Vol.493 (2), p.287-303
• Main Authors: Meineke, I., Stüwe, E., Henne, E.M., Rusteberg, G., Brendel, E., De Mey, C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analytical, structural and metabolic biochemistry; Biological and medical sciences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Non peptidic neurotransmitters, polyamines; Other biological molecules
• ISSN: 0378-4347
• DOI: 10.1016/S0378-4347(00)82735-8

A method for the simultaneous determination of epinephrine, norepinephrine and dopamine in human plasma is described, which combines the advantages of liquid—liquid extraction sample preparation, high-performance liquid chromatography on weak cation-exchange stationary phases and dual-electrode coulometric detection. The limits of quantification are less than 5 pg/ml (at a signal-to-noise ratio > 5) for each analyte. The influence of various experimental parameters (e.g., composition of the mobile phase, pretreatment of the assay buffer, components of the re-extraction system) on the performance of the assay is reported in detail. A number of applications are presented, which demonstrate the quality of the data obtained in terms of sensitivity, reproducibility and significance.