High-throughput and selective solid-phase extraction of urinary catecholamines by crown ether-modified resin...

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Biochemistry

Background:

• Catecholamines (CAs) are crucial biomarkers in clinical diagnostics.
• Accurate and efficient extraction methods are essential for CA analysis in biological samples.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a simple, high-throughput solid phase extraction (SPE) method for selective catecholamine extraction from human urine.
• To evaluate the performance of electrospun composite fibers functionalized with 4-carboxybenzo-18-crown-6 ether modified XAD resin and polystyrene for this purpose.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of SPE adsorbents using electrospun composite fibers.
• Packing functionalized fibers into 96-well columns for high-throughput processing.
• Optimization of extraction parameters and impurity removal.
• Analysis of extracted catecholamines using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a fluorescence detector.

Main Results:

• The developed packed-fiber SPE (PFSPE) method demonstrated good linearity (0.5–400 ng/mL) and low limits of detection (0.2–0.5 ng/mL).
• Extraction recoveries for three CAs ranged from 70.5% to 119.5% with good repeatability (2.7%–3.7%).
• Fluorescence detection provided more stable and reliable results compared to electrochemical detection.

Conclusions:

• The PFSPE method using 96-well columns is a simple, rapid, selective, high-throughput, and cost-efficient technique for catecholamine analysis.
• This method shows significant potential for application in clinical chemistry and diagnostics.