Recent Trends in the Quantification of Biogenic Amines in Biofluids as Biomarkers of Various Disorders: A Review

Abstract

Biogenic amines (BAs) are bioactive endogenous compounds which play a significant physiological role in many cell processes like cell proliferation and differentiation, signal transduction and membrane stability. Likewise, they are important in the regulation of body temperature, the increase/decrease of blood pressure or intake of nutrition, as well as in the synthesis of nucleic acids and proteins, hormones and alkaloids. Additionally, it was confirmed that these compounds can be considered as useful biomarkers for the diagnosis, therapy and prognosis of several neuroendocrine and cardiovascular disorders, including neuroendocrine tumours (NET), schizophrenia and Parkinson’s Disease. Due to the fact that BAs are chemically unstable, light-sensitive and possess a high tendency for spontaneous oxidation and decomposition at high pH values, their determination is a real challenge. Moreover, their concentrations in biological matrices are extremely low. These issues make the measurement of BA levels in biological matrices problematic and the application of reliable bioanalytical methods for the extraction and determination of these molecules is needed. This article presents an overview of the most recent trends in the quantification of BAs in human samples with a special focus on liquid chromatography (LC), gas chromatography (GC) and capillary electrophoresis (CE) techniques. Thus, new approaches and technical possibilities applied in these methodologies for the assessment of BA profiles in human samples and the priorities for future research are reported and critically discussed. Moreover, the most important applications of LC, GC and CE in pharmacology, psychology, oncology and clinical endocrinology in the area of the analysis of BAs for the diagnosis, follow-up and monitoring of the therapy of various health disorders are presented and critically evaluated.

Urinary Amine and Organic Acid Metabolites Evaluated as Markers for Childhood Aggression: The ACTION Biomarker Study

“…Two classes of compounds that are likely to be important in the study of aggression are organic acids, which play vital roles in critical metabolic pathways and neurotransmitter turnover (24), and biogenic amines. Neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, and histamine are all biogenic amines (25).…”

Excitation-emission fluorescence matrix acquired from glutathione capped CdSeS/ZnS quantum dots in combination with chemometric tools for pattern-based sensing of neurotransmitters

“…Moreover, the previous studies revealed that quenching of QD fluorescence by dopamine may be related to its oxidation to dopamine-quinone by ambient O 2 and therefore an electron-transfer process from QDs to dopamine-quinone species [33,34]. Since the catecholamines show the greatest stability at acidic pH and could be oxidized to a quinone species both in neutral and alkaline conditions, a similar mechanism is likely for both norepinephrine and epinephrine [31]. It is also well-known fact that glutathione reacts easily with quinone compounds, which might make the possible mechanism of interaction between catecholamine NTs and QDs-GSH more complex [35].…”

“…The diverse influence of neurotransmitters on the fluorescent properties of QDs-GSH is most likely related to the differences in their chemical structure and thus possibly different kind of interactions between NTs and glutathione surface ligands, as well as the core of QDs. At pH 7.4, dopamine (pKa 9.27), norepinephrine (pKa 8.91), epinephrine (pKa 8.85), and serotonin (pKa 9.31) remain in cationic form [31]; GABA is present as zwitterion [10], and acetylcholine has a positive charge on the nitrogen atom; therefore, electrostatic interaction of all investigated NTs with anionic GSH surface ligands may be possible. However, when considering the structure of these chemical compounds, it seems that only amino and hydroxyl functional groups of dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, and serotonin can participate in the formation of hydrogen bonds with GSH [32].…”

A Two-Dimensional Affinity Capture and Separation Mini-Platform for the Isolation, Enrichment, and Quantification of Biomarkers and Its Potential Use for Liquid Biopsy

“…Newer microfabrication techniques in particular are advancing, and microchip production using 3D is now under development [ 52 , 53 ]. Overall, CE offers advantages such as reduced sample and reagent consumption, lower operating costs, shorter reaction time, better portability, higher number of theoretical plates, and higher reliability [ 25 , 47 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 ]. Despite many advances in the CE technology, there is still a limited number of medical applications that are routinely performed in a clinical laboratory.…”