The clinical importance of simultaneous analysis of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylglycol with other human plasma catecholamines has been investigated to better understand the sympathetic nervous system. However, previous reports have had analytical difficulties with both resolution and extraction. The current study uses a reversed-phase triacontylsilyl silica (C30) column under the mobile phase condition without ion-pair reagents to separate catecholamines and their metabolites, with above 91% recoveries for intra-assay, above 85% for inter-assay, and less than 10% (n=5) coefficient of variation. Lower detection limits (S/N=4) and quantification limits (S/N=6) were 40 and 100pg/mL for norepinephrine, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylglycol, and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine, 10 and 20pg/mL for epinephrine, 10 and 40pg/mL for dopamine. Linear ranges were from 40 to 5000pg/mL for norepinephrine and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine, from 100 to 5000pg/mL for 3,4-dihydroxyphenylglycol, and from 10 to 2000pg/mL for epinephrine and dopamine. The C30 column may prove clinically useful, as it provides a convenient and simultaneous method of evaluation of human plasma catecholamines.
