title: Study of catecholamines in patient urine samples by capillary electrophoresis.
abstract: Capillary zone electrophoresis with photodiode array detection at 220 nm was used for analysis of catechol compounds in human urine. The method was optimized with reference compounds 3,4-dihydroxybenzylamine, adrenaline, noradrenaline, normetanephrine, dopamine, dopac (homogensitic acid), methanephrine, vanillyl-mandelic acid, 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), homovanillic acid and 3-methoxytyramic acid at pH 4.0 and 8.0 for their electrophoretic separation. The UV spectra of the catechols were detected at a concentration of 20 microM. Repeatability of the method calculated using the absolute migration times of the catechols was below 1.5% and using the peak areas below 5%. The patient samples were hydrolyzed by 0.5 M acid or base solutions. In the studies, a few patient samples were analyzed using 3,4-dihydroxybenzylamine as an internal standard. In the hydrolysis steps needed for their detection in urine, all the other catecholamines, except 5-HIAA, did not decompose to detectable species at 220 or 254 nm. The concentrations of the catecholamines observed in real samples were at nM levels.
authors.affiliation: Academy of Finland, Espoo, Finland. heli.siren@vtt.fi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sirén
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Karjalainen
mesh_terms: D002395:Catecholamines / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000652:urine*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods; D019075:Electrophoresis, Capillary / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D006868:Hydrolysis; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
chemical_list: D002395:Catecholamines