Determination of catecholamines in rat tissue by precolumn dansylation using micro high-performance liquid...

A micro high-performance liquid chromatography (MHPLC)-precolumn dansylation procedure for determination of norepinephrine (NE), epinephrine (E), and dopamine (DO) in various kinds of rat tissue has been developed. After dansylation of the extracted catecholamines to get fluorescent derivatives, they were separated and determined using MHPLC equipment with a fluorimeter. The standard deviation of the method was +/- 8% for NE, +/- 4% for E, and +/- 8% for DO. This relatively simple and rapid procedure for determination of catecholamines provides an efficient and reproducible method. Furthermore, the procedure is readily adaptable to routine pharmacological study of catecholamine metabolism in various kinds of rat tissue.