An HPLC assay for the norditerpenoid alkaloid methyllycaconitine, a potent nicotinic acetylcholine receptor antagonist.

The extremely potent and selective nicotinic acetylcholine receptor antagonist methyllycaconitine, MLA, and related norditerpene alkaloids are finding increasing use as neurochemical probes and as targets for structure-activity relationship studies. In this work, an assay procedure for MLA which utilises ion suppression reverse-phase HPLC with UV absorbance detection at 270 nm is described. The method detected 280 ng MLA on column.