Characterization of monoaminergic neurochemicals in the different brain regions of adult zebrafish

Monoaminergic neurotransmitters are the main components that regulate of a lot of processes in the vertebrate brain. There is growing interest to monitor the changes produced in these neurochemicals due to the large number of exogenous agents, such as pharmaceuticals and drugs of abuse, targeting and affecting this system. Adult zebrafish (Danio rerio) shares the common neurotransmitter pathways and nervous system organization with mammals. Therefore, a method based on liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) has been developed for the first time to study the profile of ten monoaminergic neurochemicals in the anterior, middle and posterior brain regions of adult zebrafish. Moreover, the applied LC-MS/MS method has been studied in terms of quality such as linearity, sensitivity and intra- and inter-day precision. The analytical method based in LC-MS/MS has become a new source in neurotoxicology using adult zebrafish as research model. Significant differences on the levels of these neurotransmitters have been found between the different brain regions.The research leading to these results has received funding from the Universitat Ramon Llull (project 2019-URL-Proj-013; C.G-C) the Spanish Government (CTM2017-83242-R; D.R.) and the network of recognized research groups by the Catalan Government (2017 SGR 902; D.R.). Dr. Gemma Gotor and Anna Muñoz (IQS-URL) are acknowledged for mass spectrometric assistance and Dr. Melissa Faria (IDAEA-CSIC) is acknowledged for her help in the extraction procedure