Assay of catechol O-methyltransferase activity by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection

New designer drug 1‐(3,4‐methylenedioxybenzyl) piperazine (MDBP): studies on its metabolism and toxicological detection in rat urine using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

“…From the metabolic point of view, position 3 can be assumed, as methylation of the catechol metabolite to the corresponding hydroxymethoxy metabolite should be catalyzed by catechol‐ O ‐methyltransferase (COMT). This enzyme is known to have a higher preference for this position 27–30. The identity of 3,4‐methylenedioxybenzylamine and piperazine could be confirmed by comparing their mass spectra and GC retention times with those of their reference substances.…”

A refined HPLC method to measure catecholamine-o-methyltransferase activity in selected brain regions

“…For this purpose, a number of different compounds have been used as a substrate for COMT including naturally including catechols (Zurcher and Da Prada, 1982) (Nohta et al, 1984) and DHBA (Koh et al, 1981;Nissinen and Mannisto, 1984;Schultz et al, 1989;Smit et al, 1990). However, the use of several of these substrates presents some limitations in measuring COMT activity.…”