Catecholamine measurements in urine by high-performance liquid chromatography with amperometric detection - comparison with an autoanalyser fluorescence method

• Published in: Journal of chromatography. Biomedical applications Vol. 494; pp. 53 - 66
• Main Authors: Hjemdahl, Paul, Larsson, P.Thomas, Bradley, Thomas, Åkerstedt, Torbjörn, Anderzén, Ingrid, Sigurdsson, Karin, Gillberg, Mats, Lundberg, Ulf
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 1989
• ISSN: 0378-4347
• DOI: 10.1016/S0378-4347(00)82656-0

In order to validate different methods of measuring urinary catecholamines (norepinephrine, epinephrine and dopamine) in humans, methods based on separation of catecholamines using reversed-phase or cation-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection were compared with an autoanalyser-based fluorescence method. Different methods for pre-chromatography sample purification were also studied. For measurements of urinary catecholamines, the reversed-phase-based chromatographic techniques studied were found to give less reliable results than cation-exchange chromatography, even if one of them (Clin Rep Urine Catecholamine Kit) gave almost as precise estimates. The autoanalyser technique yielded good results. It is concluded that cation-exchange chromatography with an appropriate sample work-up procedure (a combination of organic solvent extraction and alumina adsorption) is a reliable and accurate method for analyses of urinary catecholamines.