Detection of 28 neurotransmitters and related compounds in biological fluids by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

• Published in: Rapid communications in mass spectrometry Vol. 20; no. 9; pp. 1405 - 1421
• Main Authors: Bourcier, Sophie, Benoist, Jean-François, Clerc, Frédéric, Rigal, Odile, Taghi, Méryam, Hoppilliard, Yannik
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.01.2006; Wiley
• Subjects: Amniotic Fluid - chemistry; Catecholamines - analysis; Catecholamines - cerebrospinal fluid; Catecholamines - urine; Chemical Sciences; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Deuterium; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid - analysis; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid - cerebrospinal fluid; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid - urine; Humans; Indoles - analysis; Indoles - cerebrospinal fluid; Indoles - urine; Neurotransmitter Agents - analysis; Neurotransmitter Agents - cerebrospinal fluid; Neurotransmitter Agents - urine; or physical chemistry; Pterins - analysis; Pterins - cerebrospinal fluid; Pterins - urine; Reference Standards; Tandem Mass Spectrometry; Theoretical and; Tyrosine - analysis; Tyrosine - cerebrospinal fluid; Tyrosine - urine
• ISSN: 0951-4198; 1097-0231
• DOI: 10.1002/rcm.2459

This work presents two liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) acquisition modes: multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) and neutral loss scan (NL), for the analysis of 28 compounds in a mixture. This mixture includes 21 compounds related to the metabolism of three amino acids: tyrosine, tryptophan and glutamic acid, two pterins and five deuterated compounds used as internal standards. The identification of compounds is achieved using the retention times (RT) and the characteristic fragmentations of ionized compounds. The acquisition modes used for the detection of characteristic ions turned out to be complementary: the identification of expected compounds only is feasible by MRM while expected and unexpected compounds are detected by NL. In the first part of this work, the fragmentations characterizing each molecule of interest are described. These fragmentations are used in the second part for the detection by MRM and NL of selected compounds in mixture with and without biological fluids. Any preliminary extraction precedes the analysis of compounds in biological fluids. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.