Abstract
An optical fibre (OF) analyzer for measuring catecholamines (dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine) in biological samples with induced fluorescence was developed. The analytical set-up included a chromatographic column for catecholamine separation and a fluorescence-based OF detection (FOF-analyzer). The detection limit of the FOF-analyser was found to be less than 0.9 pg mL -1. The proposed methodology showed an adequate analytical performance for the determination of the catecholamines in actual samples of human urine. The analytical performance of the FOF-analyzer for catecholamine determination was investigated against the high performance liquid chromatography-electrochemical detection (HPLC-ED) method. The FOF-analyzer showed lower detection limits and larger linear ranges for determination of dopamine (DA), norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (E) in comparison with HPLC-ED and other methodologies such as HPLC-fluorescence. These advantages combined with the compact design, small-scale instrumentation, and effective cost of analysis make this system an interesting alternative to the existing methodologies for the determination of catecholamines in clinical samples.
| Original language | English |
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| Pages (from-to) | 2300-2306 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Analytical Methods |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Aug 2012 |
| Externally published | Yes |