Liquid chromatographic determination of amino acids in the rat brain using o-phthalaldehyde as fluorogenic reagent.

Abstract

Liquid chromatography with o-phthalaldehyde as a fluorogenic reagent and sodium citrate as an elution buffer was applied to the assay of taurine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, glycine and GABA in the rat brain. These amino acids were quantified at pmol level. This sensitive assay procedure and microdissection technique of Palkovits were used to measure their content in the substantia nigra and cerebral cortex in the brain of rats killed by decapitation or microwave exposure.