Quantitative chiral analysis of salsolinol in different brain regions of rats genetically predisposed to alcoholism

A method to determine the catecholamine content in putamen (CPU) and midbrain (MB) regions of the brain of alcohol-preferring rats (P) is presented with a focus on the low-level detection of S,R-salsolinol, a metabolite of dopamine and a putative alcoholism marker. The developed strategy allows both quantitative profiling of related catecholamines and the enantiomeric separation and quantification of the S- and R-salsolinol isomers and their ratios. The described LC/MS strategy simplifies the current methodology that typically employs GC-MS by eliminating the need for derivatization. The data also suggest an increase in the non-enzymatic formation of salsolinol as a consequence of ethanol exposure.