MULTICOMPONENT QUANTITATIONS OF MONOAMINES AND RELATED COMPOUNDS IN BIOLOGICAL FLUIDS AND CNS TISSUES BY HPLC COUPLED WITH MULTI-ELECTRODE ELECTROCHEMICAL DETECTION

Over the last two decades, the technique of high performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrochemical detection (HPLC-EC) has seen dramatic improvements in design and function (Bird et al., 1990; Godefroy et al., 1990; Hall et al., 1989; Matson et al., 1984; Mefford, 1981; Rizzo et al., 1991; Turk and Blank, 1990). These developments have resulted in the preferred use of HPLC-EC methods for analyses of the monoamine neurotransmitters and related compounds in tissue samples, microdialysis samples, cerebrospinal fluid, urine, plasma and saliva (Drebing et al., 1989; Gerhardt et al., 1986; Gerhardt et al., 1989; Godefroy et al., 1990; Hall et al., 1989; Langlais et al., 1991; Mefford, 1981; Ogawa et al., 1992; Ogawa et al., 1990; Suzuki and Mori, 1992; Swartz et al., 1990; Volicer et al., 1985; Yamamoto, 1991). In addition, the recent advances in the coupling of HPLC to arrays of electrochemical detectors, termed Coulochem Electrode Array System (CEAS; ESA Inc.), allows for the quantitation of over 20 monoamine-related neurochemicals from a single biological sample (Bird et al., 1990; Godefroy et al., 1990; Issa et al., 1994a, b; Matson et al., 1984; Ogawa et al., 1990; Rizzo et al., 1991; Swartz et al., 1990). The ability to separate and quantitate numerous inter-related neurochemicals in tissues and biological fluids may be of use in studies of psychiatric or neurodegenerative disorders (Matson et al., 1990), such as schizophrenia (Issa et al., 1994a, b), Parkinson’s Disease (Le Witt et al., 1992; Naoi et al., 1993; Ogawa et al., 1992; Tohgi et al., 1991), and Alzheimer’s Disease (Volicer et al., 1985).