Simultaneous Quantification of Seven Hippocampal Neurotransmitters in Depression Mice by LC-MS/MS

Background: There is no method available to simultaneously detect GABA, Glu, Epi, NE, DA, 5-HT and 5-HIAA in mouse hippocampus.

New Method: A rapid and sensitive LC-MS/MS method has been developed for simultaneously measuring seven neurotransmitters in mouse hippocampus. The analytes were detected in positive mode with multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) and the procedure was completed in less than 9min.

Results: This method exhibited excellent linearity for all of the analytes with regression coefficients higher than 0.99, and showed good intra- and inter-day precisions (RSD<15%) with good accuracy (80-120%). Moreover, the method was successfully applied for the quantitative determination of neurotransmitters in a mouse depression model induced by successive methylprednisolone injections. The results indicated that this depression model was closely associated with the decreased level of Epi (p=0.002) and elevated ratio of 5-HIAA/5-HT (p=0.01), which has never been reported elsewhere.

Comparison With Existing Method(s): Compared with previous methods, current approach is more convenient without any pre-column derivatization of the analytes but enhances detectability with incremental neurotransmitter profile and shortens detection time.

Conclusions: This work represents the first accurate simultaneous determination of seven neurotransmitters in the mouse depression model induced by methylprednisolone. The reliable method will benefit the research of neurological diseases with the altered neurotransmitter profile in brain.