Monitoring of biogenic amines and drugs of various therapeutic groups in urine samples with use of HPLC

A high‐performance liquid chromatography method for simultaneous separation and determination of biogenic amines [dopamine, epinephrine, serotonin and its six metabolites (normetanephrine, metanephrine, 3,4‐dihydroxyphenylacetic acid, 4‐hydroxy‐3‐methoxyphenylglycol, homovanilic acid and 5‐hydroxyindoloacetic acid)] with drugs from different therapeutically groups [analgesics (paracetamol, metamizol), diuretics (furosemide) and antibiotics (cefazolin, fluconazole)] was developed. A chromatographic column with pre‐column with octadecylsilane phase (C 18e ) and two detectors – diode array serial connected and fluorescence – was used. Gradient elution of mixture of acetate buffer (pH 4.66) and methanol as a mobile phase was applied. The limit of detection (LOD) of 8–10 ng/mL and limit of quantitation (LOQ) of 24–30 ng/mL for biogenic amines, as well as the LOD of 50–100 ng/mL and the LOQ of 150–300 ng/mL for drugs, were determined. The applied sample preparation method allowed recoveries of 93% for the biogenic amines and 92% for the drugs to be achieved. The developed procedure has been applied to simultaneous determination of the examined compounds in urine samples and could be used in clinical analysis. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.