title: Improved measurement of urinary catecholamines by liquid-liquid extraction, derivatization and high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorimetric detection.
abstract: We report a sensitive and reliable assay for the determination of the urinary catecholamines norepinephrine, epinephrine and dopamine, based on selective extraction by a liquid-liquid extraction procedure, followed by selective derivatization with the fluorigenic agent 1,2-diphenylethylenediamine and quantification by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorimetric detection. Comparison with a method using electrochemical detection shows that interference of an unknown compound, most probably N-methylepinephrine, which is an often-overlooked problem with methods using electrochemical detection and results in falsely high epinephrine concentrations, does not occur with the described fluorimetric method.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Dijkzigt, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: F A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: van der Hoorn
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Boomsma
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Man in 't Veld
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Schalekamp
mesh_terms: D002395:Catecholamines / Q000652:urine*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D004563:Electrochemistry; D005470:Fluorometry; D006801:Humans; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000652:urine
chemical_list: D002395:Catecholamines; D009638:Norepinephrine