A convenient method for the chromatographic analysis of norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin

Norepinephrine was completely separated from dopamine by their elution as complexes with 0.7% boric acid from a column of a weak cation exchanger. The neutral eluates were suitable for both radioactive counting and quantitation of amine content by either native fluorescence or specific fluorimetric assays. The investigation of overall catecholamine metabolism with radioactive tracers is readily carried out with this method because the amines and their metabolites are collected sequentially in these fractions: monoamine oxidase products, norepinephrine, dopamine, O-methylated derivatives of catecholamines plus serotonin.