Separation of catecholamines and their metabolites

✍ Scribed by D.T. Masuoka; W. Drell; H.F. Schott; A.F. Alcaraz; E.C. James

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1963
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 368 KB
• Volume: 5
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0003-2697
• DOI: 10.1016/0003-2697(63)90044-7

✦ Synopsis

Studies on the biosynthesis and metabolism of cat,echolamines in various tissues required a procedure for separating and measuring the radioactive precursors and metabolites.

The ion-exchange chromatography method of Kirshner and Goodall (1) is excellent for the separation of adrenaline, noradrenaline, and dopamine, but the presence of O-methylated metabolites interferes with the resolution of the peaks. It was also desirable to separate and determine small quantities of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (dopa) in the presence of highly radioactive tyrosine. Drell (to be published) in a study of various factors involved in the adsorption of catechol compounds on alumina found conditions under which catecholamines could be separated from catechol acids.

The procedure described below, a modification and extension of Drell's procedure (Z), involves essentially the use of an alumina column to effect a partial separation of the solutes into three groups: noncatechols (such as tyrosine and 3-0-methylated metabolites of catecholamines) , catecholamines, and catechol acids, followed by further resolution of each of these groups by means of a suitable resin column.