Evaluation of a radioenzymic kit for determination of plasma catecholamines

We evaluated a commercially available reagent test-kit (Upjohn) for simultaneously determining norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine in 50-microL of plasma. The three catecholamines are enzymically converted into the radioactive O-methyl derivatives and separated by thin-layer chromatography. Day-to-day precision (CV) was 11, 10, and 14% for norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine, respectively. The relationship between concentration of catecholamine and radioactivity (net dpm) was linear to at least 8 ng (corresponding to 1 mumol/L in plasma). Sensitivity was approximately 2 pg for dopamine, 1 pg for each of the other two catecholamines. Under our conditions, epinephrine was not quite completely resolved from the other two fractions. Catecholamine values determined in normal humans, after 30 min supine and after normal laboratory activity, agreed well with those found by other investigators. Correlation was good between kit results and those obtained in another laboratory that used self-prepared reagents and "high-performance" liquid chromatography for the separation.