Biogenic amines in microdissected brain regions of Drosophila melanogaster measured with micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography-electrochemical detection.

Micellar electrokinetic chromatography with electrochemical detection has been used to quantify biogenic amines in microdissected Drosophila melanogaster brains and brain regions. The effects of pigment from the relatively large fly eyes on the separation have been examined to find that the red pigment from the compound eye masks much of the signal from biogenic amines. The brains of white mutant flies, which have characteristically low pigment in the eyes, have a significantly simplified separation profile in comparison to the red-eyed, wild-type, Canton S fly. Yet, the white mutant flies were found to have significantly less amounts of dopamine, l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA), salsolinol, and N-acetyltyramine in their dissected brains when compared to dissected brains of Canton S flies. In addition, significant variation has been observed in the dissected brains between individual flies that might be related to changes in neurotransmitter turnover. The transgenic GFP fly line (TH-GFP), for which the overall profile of biogenic amines is not found to be significantly different from Canton S, can be used to visualize the location of dopamine neurons. Biogenic amines were then quantified in three brain regions observed to have dopamine levels, the central brain, optic lobes, and posterior superiormedial protocerebrum (PPM1) region.