Determination of neurotransmitter amino acids in mouse central nervous system by CE – LIF

An MEKC method with LIF detection has been developed for the determination of seven neurotransmitter amino acids ( NAA s) using 1,3,5,7‐tetramethyl‐8‐( N ‐hydroxysuccinimidyl butyric ester)difluoroboradiaza‐ S ‐indacene as the labeling reagent. After derivatization at room temperature for 30 min, the seven target NAA s including glycine, alanine, γ‐aminobutyric acid, taurine, glutamine, glutamic acid, and aspartic acid were separated in running buffer, which consisted of 70 mM pH 4.00 H 3 PO 4 /Na 3 PO 4 buffer, 5.5 mM cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide and 20% v/v acetonitrile within 17 min. The LOD s were 2 ∼ 14 × 10 −10  M without interference from other coexisting amino acids. The proposed method has been applied to the analysis of NAA s in the central nervous systems of healthy mice and those with A lzheimer's disease with recoveries of 92–104%.