In vivo monitoring of cerebral agmatine by microdialysis and capillary electrophoresis

► The combination of microdialysis and CZE and laser induced fluorescence detection (LIFD) for agmatine has not been attempted before. ► We used capillary zone electrophoresis and laser induced fluorescence detection (CZE-LIFD) to measure nanomolar concentrations of agmatine in submicroliter sample volumes. ► This analytical technique proved to detect 0.49 attomole of agmatine improving the sensitivity of previous analytical techniques. ► We successfully applied the technique to measure agmatine in brain dialysates from the hippocampus where agmatine acts as a putative neurotransmitter.