Semi-automated catecholamine assay.

Three semi-automated procedures are described for the estimation of the catecholamine contents of urine, tissue and plasma samples. The three procedures are based on the fluorometric tri-hydroxyindole assay which has been modified for automatic analysis. These techniques offer several advantages over currently available assays in that they are more convenient, provide for faster analysis rate and give increased sensitivity. The results of the present studies in which the catecholamine contents of urine, tissue and plasma samples were determined using the semi-automated assay provided a range of values which was identical to that obtained using other methods.