Simultaneous analysis of multiple neurotransmitters by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry

Neurotransmitters are endogenous metabolites that allow the signal transmission across neuronal synapses. Their biological role is crucial for many physiological functions and their levels can be changed by several diseases. Because of their high polarity, hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) is a promising tool for neurotransmitter analysis. Due to the large number of HILIC stationary phases available, an evaluation of the column performances and retention behaviors has been performed on five different commercial HILIC packing materials (silica, amino, amide and two zwitterionic stationary phases). Several parameters like the linear correlation between retention and the distribution coefficient (log D), the separation factor k and the column resolution Rs have been investigated and the column performances have been visualized with a heat map and hierarchical clustering analysis. An optimized and validated HILIC-MS/MS method based on the ZIC-cHILIC column is proposed for the simultaneous detection and quantification of twenty compounds consisting of neurotransmitters, precursors and metabolites: 3-methoxytyramine (3-MT), 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), 5-hydroxy-L-tripthophan, acetylcholine, choline, L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA), dopamine, epinephrine, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), glutamate, glutamine, histamine, histidine, L-tryptophan, L-tyrosine, norepinephrine, normetanephrine, phenylalanine, serotonin and tyramine. The method was applied to neuronal metabolite profiling of the central nervous system of the freshwater snail Lymnaea stagnalis. This method is suitable to explore neuronal metabolism and its alteration in different biological matrices.