A high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry protocol for detection of neurotransmitters in the rat brain tissue

Di Dai; Qian Qin; Xinyu Zhu; Qiuyuan Fang; Xianzong Meng; Lin Bai; Guang Yang; Ling Shan; Chunqing Liu

doi:10.1016/j.mex.2023.102083

A high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry protocol for detection of neurotransmitters in the rat brain tissue

MethodsX. 2023 Feb 18:10:102083. doi: 10.1016/j.mex.2023.102083. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Di Dai¹, Qian Qin², Xinyu Zhu², Qiuyuan Fang², Xianzong Meng², Lin Bai³, Guang Yang², Ling Shan⁴, Chunqing Liu²

Affiliations

¹ Technology Centre of Dalian Customs District P.R. China.
² College of Medical Laboratory, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning 116044, China.
³ The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, China, Dalian, Liaoning 116011, China.
⁴ Dept. Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, an Institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Meibergdreef 47 1105BA Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Abstract

The detection of neurotransmitters has extensively been applied to the study of the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and therapeutic effect of drugs on many neuropsychiatric diseases. High-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) has been employed to determine neurotransmitters levels due to its distinct advantages. However, neurotransmitter detection still presents some challenges. A rapid and sensitive HPLC-MS/MS protocol has been established in our lab, which can simultaneously detect 5 neurotransmitters with an easy pretreatment procedure. The protocol provides demanded reference value for the lab using an Agilent HPLC-MS/MS system with a triple quadrupole analyzer.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; HPLC-MS/MS; Hippocampus; Neurotransmitter; Parkinson's disease; Rat; Striatum.