Monoamines are a class of neuromodulators that are crucial for a variety of brain functions, including control of mood, movement, sleep and cognition. From mammals to insects, the nervous system is enriched in monoamines such as dopamine, serotonin and melatonin, analytes which range from being highly polar to non-polar. Here we developed a method using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to quantify in a single run the amounts of six distinct monoamines in extracts from dissected Drosophila and mouse brain tissues. The measured monoamines were dopamine (DA), serotonin (also known as 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)), octopamine (OA, an insect equivalent of norepinephrine), tyramine (TA), melatonin (MT) and N-acetylserotonin (NAS). The analytical range of these monoamines was between 0.25 and 5.0 ng/mL. This quantitative LC-MS/MS methodology has important use for simultaneous measurement of distinct neuroactive monoamines from precious biological specimens.
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