A METHOD FOR DIFFERENTIATING DOPAMINE FROM NORADRENALINE IN TISSUE SECTIONS BY MICROSPECTROFLUOROMETRY

Abstract

Fluorophores induced from noradrenaline and dopamine in tissue sections by treatment with formaldehyde can be separated by their different behavior upon HCl treatment. The noradrenaline fluorophore converts to a fully aromatic isoquinoline while the dopamine fluorophore remains in the form of a nonquinoidal dihydroisoquinoline. The two fluorophores have readly distinguishable excitation spectra. The procedure has been tested both in model systems and in tissue sections. The microspectrofluorometer used is described.