Electrochemical detector and software upgrade for existing HPLC

这三位申请者在定义明确的利基领域工作，但我们的研究有一个共同的主题，即鱼类对环境应激源的适应以及对环境变化的感知(化学接收)的潜在机制。因此，我们的研究需要测定循环或分泌的肾上腺素、去甲肾上腺素和多巴胺(统称为儿茶酚胺；CAT)或5-羟色胺的水平。有几种技术可以用来测量生物组织中的生物胺，尽管高效液相色谱法与电化学(EC)检测相结合可以说是目前可用的最具成本效益和最灵敏的方法。这项技术在佩里的实验室里是常规使用的，并满足了所有三个申请者的分析要求。目前的EC探测器(普林斯顿应用研究)是加拿大瓦里安在1992年一座新的科学大楼开放时捐赠给生物系的综合高效液相系统的一部分。在过去的16年里，高效液相色谱法和EC检测器可能是首席调查员实验室中使用最多的仪器，有超过5万个样本正在为猫进行处理和分析。2001年对高效液相色谱泵、自动取样器和数据采集软件进行了升级(NSERC RTI改为PERRY)，但为了节省成本，没有更换EC检测器。普林斯顿应用研究公司不再生产EC探测器，也不再为以前销售的型号提供服务，因为它们已经过时。因此，在过去的三年中，在排除EC检测器问题时，高效液相色谱仪已长时间无法使用。一个不可预测的EC探测器严重影响了我们训练HQP的能力，并导致了研究进展的延误。这项提案旨在通过申请资金购买EC探测器和软件来纠正这种情况，以便与现有的高效液相色谱一起使用。

The three applicants work in well-defined niches yet a common theme that links our research is the adaptation of fish to environmental stressors and the mechanisms underlying perception of a changing environment (chemoreception). As such, our research requires the determination of the circulating or secreted levels of adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine (collectively termed catecholamines; CAT) or serotonin. Several techniques can be used to measure biogenic amines in biological tissues although HPLC in conjunction with electrochemical (EC) detection is arguably the most cost-effective and sensitive method that is currently available. This technique is used routinely in Perry's lab and serves the analytical requirements of all three applicants. The current EC detector (Princeton Applied Research) was donated as part of an integrated HPLC system to the Biology Department in 1992 by Varian Canada upon the opening of a new Science building. Over the past 16 years, the HPLC and EC detector have likely been the most heavily used instruments in the lab of the principal investigator with over 50,000 samples being processed and analyzed for CATs. The HPLC pump, auto-sampler and data acquisition software were upgraded in 2001 (NSERC RTI to Perry) but to save costs, the EC detector was not replaced. Princeton Applied Research no longer manufactures an EC detector nor do they service previously sold models as they are obsolete. Thus, over the past three years, the HPLC has been unusable for extended periods while troubleshooting EC detector problems. An unpredictable EC detector has seriously impacted our ability to train HQP and has led to delays in research progress. This proposal aims to remedy this situation by requesting funds to purchase a an EC detector and software to be used with the existing HPLC.