High-performance liquid-chromatographic analysis for serotonin and tryptamine excreted in urine after oral loading with L-tryptophan.

Abstract

We describe a method used for determining serotonin and tryptamine in urine after oral loading with their precursor amino acid. Several factors affecting prepurification and chromatographic separation of both indoleamines were optimized, including sample extraction and mobile-phase composition. Under optimal conditions, serotonin and tryptamine are extracted from urine samples together with an internal standard, and then they are separated by reversed-phase chromatography followed by native fluorescence detection. The analytical procedure is simple enough to apply to routine analysis and performable at low cost. Sensitivity and selectivity of the method are satisfactory enough to determine urinary serotonin and tryptamine. By pursuing urinary excretion of serotonin and tryptamine after oral loading with L-tryptophan (30 mg per kilogram body weight), our method proves that urinary excretion of both indoleamines increases immediately after loading and reaches a maximum in about 45 min.