Preliminary study of the use of dansyl chloride to determine cyclic-3',5'-AMP in tissues.

A highly sensitive method for the determination of cyclic-3',5'-AMP has been developed which involves the reaction of the substance with dansyl chloride and the subsequent separation of the dansyl-cyclic-3',5'-AMP derivative by thin-layer chromatography. Experiments with standard solutions of 3H-cyclic-3',5'-AMP have shown that there is a direct relationship between the amount of dansyl-3H-cyclic-3',5'-AMP recovered and that dansylated. The procedure is exceedingly sensitive, allowing milligram quantities of material to be analysed for its endogeneous cyclic-3',5'-AMP content. With the use of 14C-adenine as substrate, this method permits the separation of 14C-cyclic-3',5'-AMP formed from the substrate and other 14C-containing compounds, thus allowing the turn-over of cyclic-3'-5'-AMP to be studied. The usefullness of the method is demonstrated by analysing the turn-over and endogenous content of cyclic-3'-5'-AMP in rat nervous tissue.