A simple analysis of catecholamines in cell medium by LC/MS/MS using an ion-pairing reagent added to final extracts

The catecholamines L-tyrosine, L-DOPA, dopamine and norepinephrine are well established neurotransmitters and have been widely employed in various types of cell lines for the study of the mechanism, pharmacology and biochemistry of neurosecretion. But there are always challenges for the determination of catecholamines in biological samples as they are small very polar molecules which always poorly retained on reversed-phase C18 column. The major disadvantages of existing analytical methods include short retention time and difficulty in separating from each other and potential interference from endogenous compounds present in the matrix. It would be ideal to develop a simple and rapid LC-MS/MS method for the determination of the catecholamines for quantitative monitoring of these compounds in cell cultures.