Bridging the Gap: Understanding the Significance of Catecholamines in Neurochemistry and Recent Advances in their Detection

Abstract

The neurochemistry of catecholamines plays a crucial and complex role in human memory, behavior, and cognition, while affecting other organs such as the lungs, heart, liver, and skin. Dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine are three closely-related catecholamines that have been widely studied over the last seven decades for development of medications for life-threatening diseases. Other studies have also suggested a link between drug abuse and catecholamine levels. The determination of catecholamine levels in different parts of the human body has also been a hot topic for research in these years. HPLC, spectrophotometry, fluorescence, electrochemistry and other techniques have been used to quantify catecholamines in mostly in biological samples like serum and urine, although in vivo studies are also possible. This article attempts to present the research on catecholamines from the perspectives of their bodily functions, development of medications for diseases related to these, and the techniques used for their detection and quantification.