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Rehm K, Hankele AK, Ulbrich SE, Bigler L. Quantification of glucocorticoid and progestogen metabolites in bovine plasma, skimmed milk and saliva by UHPLC-HR-MS with polarity switching. Anal Chim Acta 2024; 1287:342118. [PMID: 38182350 DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2023.342118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2023] [Revised: 11/15/2023] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 01/07/2024]
Abstract
Steroid metabolites are increasingly in focus when searching for novel biomarkers in physiological mechanisms and their disorders. While major steroids such as progesterone and cortisol are well-researched and routinely determined to assess the health, particularly the reproductive status of mammals, the function of potentially biologically active progestogen and glucocorticoid metabolites is widely unexplored. One of the main reasons for this is the lack of comprehensive, sensitive, and specific analytical methods. This is particularly the case when analyzing matrices like milk or saliva obtained by non-invasive sampling with steroid concentrations often below those present in plasma. Therefore, a new UHPLC-HR-MS method based on an Ultimate UHPLC system equipped with an Acquity HSS T3 reversed-phase column and a Q Exactive™ mass spectrometer was developed, enabling the simultaneous chromatographic separation, detection and quantification of eleven isobaric glucocorticoids (11-dehydrocorticosterone (A), corticosterone (B), cortisol (F), cortisone (E), the tetrahydrocortisols (THF): 3α,5α-THF, 3α,5β-THF, 3β,5α-THF, 3β,5β-THF, and the tetrahydrocortisones (THE): 3α,5α-THE, 3α,5β-THE, 3β,5α-THE) and twelve progestogens (progesterone (P4), pregnenolone (P5), the dihydroprogesterones (DHP): 20α-DHP, 20β-DHP, 3α-DHP, 3β-DHP, 5α-DHP, 5β-DHP, and the tetrahydroprogesterones (THP): 3α,5α-THP, 3α,5β-THP, 3β,5α-THP, 3β,5β-THP) in bovine plasma, skimmed milk, and saliva. A simple liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) with MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether) was used for sample preparation of 500 μL plasma, skimmed milk, and saliva. Heated electrospray ionization (HESI) with polarity switching was applied to analyze steroids in high-resolution full scan mode (HR-FS). The method validation covered the investigation of sensitivity, selectivity, curve fitting, carry-over, accuracy, precision, recovery, matrix effects and applicability. A high sensitivity in the range of pg mL-1 was achieved for all steroids suitable for the analysis of authentic samples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karoline Rehm
- University of Zurich, Department of Chemistry, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Anna-Katharina Hankele
- ETH Zurich, Animal Physiology, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Universitaetstrasse 2, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Susanne E Ulbrich
- ETH Zurich, Animal Physiology, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Universitaetstrasse 2, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Laurent Bigler
- University of Zurich, Department of Chemistry, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland.
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Arioli F, Gamberini MC, Pavlovic R, Di Cesare F, Draghi S, Bussei G, Mungiguerra F, Casati A, Fidani M. Quantification of cortisol and its metabolites in human urine by LC-MS n: applications in clinical diagnosis and anti-doping control. Anal Bioanal Chem 2022; 414:6841-6853. [PMID: 35915250 PMCID: PMC9436849 DOI: 10.1007/s00216-022-04249-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2022] [Revised: 07/09/2022] [Accepted: 07/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The objective of the current research was to develop a liquid chromatography-MSn (LC-MSn) methodology for the determination of free cortisol and its 15 endogenous metabolites (6β-hydroxycortisol, 20α-dihydrocortisol, 20α-dihydrocortisone, 20-β-dihydrocortisol, 20β-dihydrocortisone, prednisolone, cortisone, α-cortolone, β-cortolone, allotetrahydrocortisol, 5α-dihydrocortisol, tetrahydrocortisol, allotetrahydrocortisone, 5β-dihydrocortisol, tetrahydrocortisone) in human urine. Due to its optimal performance, a linear ion trap operating in ESI negative ion mode was chosen for the spectrometric analysis, performing MS3 and MS4 experiments. The method was validated for limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) (0.01 ng mL−1 and 0.05 ng mL−1, for all compounds, respectively), intra- and inter-day precision (CV = 1.4–9.2% and CV = 3.6–10.4%, respectively), intra- and inter-day accuracy (95–110%), extraction recovery (65–95%), linearity (R2 > 0.995), and matrix effect that was absent for all molecules. Additionally, for each compound, the percentage of glucuronated conjugates was estimated. The method was successfully applied to the urine (2 mL) of 50 healthy subjects (25 males, 25 females). It was also successfully employed on urine samples of two patients with Cushing syndrome and one with Addison’s disease. This analytical approach could be more appropriate than commonly used determination of urinary free cortisol collected in 24-h urine. The possibility of considering the differences and relationship between cortisol and its metabolites allows analytical problems related to quantitative analysis of cortisol alone to be overcome. Furthermore, the developed method has been demonstrated as efficient for antidoping control regarding the potential abuse of corticosteroids, which could interfere with the cortisol metabolism, due to negative feedback on the hypothalamus-hypophysis-adrenal axis. Lastly, this method was found to be suitable for the follow-up of prednisolone that was particularly important considering its pseudo-endogenous origin and correlation with cortisol metabolism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Arioli
- Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Milan, Via dell'Università 6, 26900, Lodi, LO, Italy
| | - Maria Cristina Gamberini
- Department of Life Science, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Via Campi 103, 41125, Modena, Italy
| | - Radmila Pavlovic
- Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Milan, Via dell'Università 6, 26900, Lodi, LO, Italy.
| | - Federica Di Cesare
- Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Milan, Via dell'Università 6, 26900, Lodi, LO, Italy
| | - Susanna Draghi
- Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Milan, Via dell'Università 6, 26900, Lodi, LO, Italy
| | - Giulia Bussei
- UNIRELAB Srl, Via Gramsci 70, 20019, Settimo Milanese, MI, Italy
| | | | - Alessio Casati
- Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Milan, Via dell'Università 6, 26900, Lodi, LO, Italy
| | - Marco Fidani
- UNIRELAB Srl, Via Gramsci 70, 20019, Settimo Milanese, MI, Italy
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Gaudl A, Kratzsch J, Ceglarek U. Advancement in steroid hormone analysis by LC-MS/MS in clinical routine diagnostics - A three year recap from serum cortisol to dried blood 17α-hydroxyprogesterone. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 2019; 192:105389. [PMID: 31158444 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsbmb.2019.105389] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2019] [Revised: 05/21/2019] [Accepted: 05/30/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Steroid analysis by LC-MS/MS in daily clinical routine diagnostics requires high-throughput conditions including fast chromatographic separation. Hereby, signal interferences may occur due to limited specificity in complex biologic matrices. During the last three years of routine steroid analysis in our laboratory and roughly 50,000 measurements, about 1% was affected by interferences, mainly serum cortisol (>90%) and dried blood 17α-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP). To overcome specificity problems, enhanced chromatography, ionization polarity switching, and detection via two-stage fragmentation (MS3) using a quadrupole linear ion trap were investigated in our study. Signal interferences of serum cortisol were eliminated by applying a protocol for automated method switching without changing the basic high-throughput LC-MS/MS setup. This approach includes negative ionization and extended chromatography from 4 to 6.6 min using the fourfold column length. From 9 samples affected by cortisol interference using the high-throughput method, 8 could be reliably analyzed applying the method switching protocol. Moreover, the applicability of the high-throughput method as second tier analysis in congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) diagnostics from dried blood was verified with 100% diagnostic specificity. In addition, the combination of fast LC and MS3 detection enables specific quantitation of 17-OHP from dried blood spots on a screening time scale. This approach may be an alternative to the newborn screening for CAH by immunoassay due to its higher specificity, reducing the number of false positive results by 90%. In this work we recap experiences from three years of clinical routine steroid analysis via LC-MS/MS and present a unique analytical setup that enables both high-throughput and enhanced resolution analysis of steroid hormones in serum and dried blood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Gaudl
- Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnostics, Leipzig University, Liebigstraße 27a, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Jürgen Kratzsch
- Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnostics, Leipzig University, Liebigstraße 27a, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Uta Ceglarek
- Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnostics, Leipzig University, Liebigstraße 27a, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
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Analysis of corticosteroids in samples of animal origin using QuEChERS and ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry. Anal Bioanal Chem 2018; 411:449-457. [PMID: 30478515 DOI: 10.1007/s00216-018-1459-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2018] [Revised: 10/05/2018] [Accepted: 10/29/2018] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
A rapid and sensitive method for the confirmatory analysis of eight synthetic corticosteroids (betamethasone, dexamethasone, prednisolone, 6-methylprednisolone, triamcinolone, flumethasone, beclomethasone, fluocinolone acetonide) is proposed. The method is useful for detecting illegal treatments in different animal species. It consists of an extraction and cleanup using the quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) strategy. Quantitative determination is achieved by ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry with heated electrospray ionization in negative mode. Quantification is performed using surrogate matrix-matched standard calibration curve with dexamethasone-D4 as the internal standard. The method was validated for analyzing liver samples according to the criteria established by Decision 2002/657/EC. Linearity was assessed in the 1-10 μg kg-1 range and linear correlation coefficients were over 0.99 for all the analytes. CCα ranged from 0.04 to 0.16 μg kg-1 for substances without maximum residue limit. The method allows confident quantification and confirmation of corticosteroids in liver samples, and its simplicity makes it suitable for analyzing large numbers of samples.
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Sheriff N, McCormack AI. How useful is urinary-free cortisol in the clinic? Biomark Med 2017; 11:1009-1016. [DOI: 10.2217/bmm-2016-0311] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Measurement of 24-h urine-free cortisol is frequently employed as a first-line screening and disease-monitoring test in Cushing's syndrome (CS). The quest for ‘cortisol specificity’ has seen the emergence of mass spectrometry (MS) based assays, particularly liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. In contrast to traditional immunoassays, liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry ‘free cortisol’ measurement is less susceptible to ‘interference’ from cortisol precursors and metabolites. However, detection of these conjugates is important in mild CS and therefore, missed by MS if cortisol alone is measured. MS assays nevertheless are capable of measuring broad steroid profiles, including the potential to distinguish benign from malignant adrenal-based CS and detection of exogenous glucocorticoids. Until this is routine practice, we recommend against abandoning immunoassays measurement of urine-free cortisol.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nisa Sheriff
- Hormones and Cancer Group, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, Australia
- Department of Endocrinology, St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, Australia
| | - Ann I McCormack
- Hormones and Cancer Group, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, Australia
- Department of Endocrinology, St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, Australia
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Leporati M, Nobile M, Capra P, Alladio E, Vincenti M. Determination of endogenous and exogenous corticosteroids in bovine urine and effect of fighting stress during the “Batailles des Reines” on their biosynthesis. Res Vet Sci 2017; 114:423-429. [DOI: 10.1016/j.rvsc.2017.06.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2016] [Revised: 05/23/2017] [Accepted: 06/22/2017] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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