Development and validation of a specific and sensitive LC-MS/MS method for quantification of urinary catecholamines and application in biological variation studies

摘要

Catecholamines are a class of biogenic amines that play an important role as neurotransmitters and hormones.We developed and validated a rapid, specific and sensitive LC-MS/MS method for quantitative determination of catecholamines in human urine. Linearity, specificity, sensitivity, precision, accuracy, matrix effect, carryover, analyte stability, method comparison and reference range were evaluated. The catecholamine measurements were not affected by 35 structurally-related drugs and metabolites. The outstanding specificity was achieved by use of a specific diphenylboratebased solid phase extraction and subsequent selective LC-MS/MS analysis. Excellent sensitivity, accuracy and precision (average intra-assay variations <2.9 % and inter-assay variations