Detection and Quantitation of Norepinephrine in Mouse Plasma by SPE-LC/MS/MS

摘要

Norepinephrine (NE) plays an important role in the sympathetic nervous system as a neurotransmitter. The production and release of NE in the blood stream generate psychiatric conditions and directly relate to mental health problems, such as manic depression. Measurements of NE levels in biological matrices provide valuable information for the diagnosis of disease and drug therapies. A unique solid phase extraction (SPE) followed by LC-MS/MS analysis was developed for the detection and quantitation of NE in mouse plasma. The distinguishing benefits of this methodology over the traditional sample preparation are SPE efficiently disrupted the drug-protein interaction, removed interferences from the sample matrix, and enhance the limit of detection of the trace NE in mouse plasma solution by LC/MS. Calibrations of NE at concentrations of 10-100 ppb and 100-1000 ppb with good linearity and recoveries were achieved. The detection limit of this method was 5 ppb.