Rapid determination of amino acid neurotransmitters by high performance liquid chromatography

Objective To develop a high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) for simultaneous separation and rapid determination of five amino acid [glutamate(Glu),aspartate(Asp),γ-aminobutyric acid(GABA),glycine(Gly),taurine(Tau)] neurotransmitters in the striatum of rat brain.Methods The HPLC column was Kromasil C_(18) (4.6×250 mm,particle size 5 μm).The precolumn derivatization reagent was 1dimethyl aminonaphthalenesulfonyl chloide and trazodone was used as internal standard.The mobile phase was a mixture of 42% methanol and 58% 0.1 mol/L sodium acetate(V/V),which involved 1% tetrahydrofuran,14 mmol/L 1-heptanesulfonic acid sodium salt.Isocratic elution was used. Results The linear range of the assay was 1～200 mg/L.The calibrations were characterized by a coefficient of correlation higher than 0.999.The average recoveries of amino acid were from 79.1% to 92.9%. Conclusions The method is simple,rapid and accurate.It is useful for studying changes of neurotransmitter amino acid levels in neuropsychiatric disorders.