DISTRIBUTION OF METANEPHRINE AND NORMETANEPHRINE IN VARIOUS ANIMALS AND THEIR ANALYSIS IN DIVERSE BIOLOGIC MATERIAL

¹ Departments of Anesthesiology and Pharmacology, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

A specific and sensitive method for the determination of metanephrine (M) and normetanephrine (NM) in tissue, urine and plasma from man and laboratory animals is described. The amines are selectively extracted by the use of a particular combination of ions, organic solvents and pH and then converted to fluorescent derivatives by periodate oxidation. In a study on the distribution of the amines in various animals, the highest concentration was found in the adrenal. In frog brain, the amine was M, whereas it was NM in the brains of the other animals. In the urine of the few animals examined, NM was always found in higher concentration than M, whereas they occurred in about equal concentration in human urine. The excretion pattern of the parent catecholamines (norepinephrine, NE, and epinephrine, E) and their metabolites is markedly altered in patients with pheochromocytoma and neuroblastoma. Also, the ratio of the metabolites to endogenous NE and E in human urine differs from that obtained with the exogenous amines.

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