Identification and Distribution of β-Phenylethylamine in the Rat

Abstract

A procedure for the quantitative evaluation of some amines present in mammalian tissues has been developed. It includes isolation of the amines by ion exchange chromatography followed by conversion to dansyl derivatives, chromatographic separation, and quantitation by the mass spectrometric integrated ion current technique. The use of an isotopically labelled internal standard improves the precision and sensitivity of the analysis.The concentrations of β-phenylethylamine in some tissues of male Wistar rats were (ng/g); brain 1.8 ± 0.4, heart 5.7 ± 3.1, kidney 20.5 ± 2.2, liver 2.0 ± 0.7, lung 4.0 ± 1.4, and spleen 4.7 ± 2.7. In the brain the hypothalamus contained 25.3 ± 5.0, the cerebellum 3.4 ± 0.5, the stem 2.2 ± 0.9, the caudate nucleus 8.0 ± 0.3, and the 'rest' 1.1 ± 0.2 ng/g, respectively.