Abstract:
Catecholamines are a group o f compounds identified by the catechol nucleus. The significant catecholamines found naturally in the body are epinephrine, nor- epinephrine and dopam ine. They are found in various tissues o f the body like brain, adrenals, GIT, blood, urine and cerebrospinal fluid in picogram quantities. K now ledge o f catecholam ines is im portant in the diagnosis and m anagem ent o f pheochrom ocytom a, CNS tum ours like neuroblastom a, Diabetes m ellitus, hypertension, coronary disease, angina pectoris, m yocardial infarction etc. A nalytical techniques for determ ination o f catecholam ines have been developed w hich are gen erally based u p o n the use o f iso lated enzym e catech o l-O -m ethyltransferase (C O M T ) to tran sfer a radioactive m ethyl group from S-adenosyl-L-m ethionine (SAM ) to an endogenous catecholam ine acceptor m olecule to form a radioactive O -m ethyl catecholam ine derivative. This article gives a basic out line o f the catecholam ine assay along w ith a sim plified protocol th at can be easily perform ed in the laboratory.
Page(s):
121-126
DOI:
DOI not available
Published:
Journal: Journal of Dow University of Health Sciences, Volume: 2, Issue: 3, Year: 2008
Keywords:
c a te c h o la m in e
,
ra d io e n z y m a tic a s s a y
,
C a te c h o lo m e th y ltra n s fe ra s e C O M T