Current Sample Preparation Methodologies for Determination of Catecholamines and Their Metabolites

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Clinical Diagnostics

Background:

• Catecholamines (CAs) and their metabolites are vital physiological compounds.
• Altered CA concentrations are indicators for diseases like pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma.
• Accurate quantification of CAs in biological samples is challenging due to low concentrations and interferences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent advancements (2015-2021) in sample preparation techniques for catecholamine determination.
• To focus on methods coupled with separation-based detection like CE and LC.
• To provide guidance for researchers in selecting appropriate sample pretreatment and detection strategies.

Main Methods:

• Review of literature on sample preparation techniques for CAs and metabolites.
• Emphasis on techniques including SPE, LLE, SPME, LLME, DSPE, and chemical derivatization.
• Focus on methods combined with capillary electrophoresis (CE) and liquid chromatography (LC).

Main Results:

• Summarizes various extraction techniques for CAs from biological matrices.
• Highlights modern approaches offering automation and miniaturization.
• Discusses the integration of sample preparation with CE and LC detection methods.

Conclusions:

• Effective sample preparation is essential for overcoming challenges in CA analysis.
• Recent techniques offer improved enrichment and interference removal.
• This review serves as a resource for selecting optimal methods for CA determination in biological samples.