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Electrochemical detection of human brain transmitter amino acids by high-performance liquid chromatography of stable O-phthalaldehyde-sulphite derivatives

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Summary

A simple, sensitive, reliable and reproducible isocratic HPLC technique for the measurement of OPA/sulphite derivatives of human brain amino acid neurotransmitters is described. This employs a sample preparation that is also compatible with the concurrent determination of monoamines and their metabolites on a separate HPLC system. The method has been applied to the determination of GABA and glutamate in brain tissue taken post-mortem from patients with Huntington's disease and control subjects.

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Author notes

  1. G. P. Reynolds

    Present address: Department of Biomedical Science, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Science, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield

    S. J. Pearson

  2. Department of Pathology, University of Nottingham Medical School, Nottingham, UK

    C. Czudek & K. Mercer

Authors
  1. S. J. Pearson
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  2. C. Czudek
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  3. K. Mercer
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  4. G. P. Reynolds
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Additional information

This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust and the Association to Combat Huntington's Chorea. Brain tissue was provided by the Cambridge Brain Bank Laboratory. We thank Dr. M. Joseph for drawing our attention to the potential of this technique.

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Pearson, S.J., Czudek, C., Mercer, K. et al. Electrochemical detection of human brain transmitter amino acids by high-performance liquid chromatography of stable O-phthalaldehyde-sulphite derivatives. J. Neural Transmission 86, 151–157 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01250576

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01250576

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