Stable isotope labeling – Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry for quantitative analysis of androgenic and progestagenic steroids

• Girard reagent P (GP) and d5-GP were synthesized and utilized to label steroid hormones.
• The ionization efficiencies of steroid hormones were greatly improved by 4–504 folds after labeling.
• d5-GP labeled standards were used as the internal standards for quantification.
• The steroid hormones in human follicular fluid we successfully quantified.

Steroid hormones play important roles in mammal at very low concentrations and are associated with numerous endocrinology and oncology diseases. Therefore, quantitative analysis of steroid hormones can provide crucial information for uncovering underlying mechanisms of steroid hormones related diseases. In the current study, we developed a sensitive method for the detection of steroid hormones (progesterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, testosterone, pregnenolone, 17-hydroxyprogesterone, androstenedione and 17α-hydroxypregnenolone) in body fluids by stable isotope labeling coupled with liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) analysis. In this respect, a pair of isotopes labeling reagents, Girard reagent P (GP) and d5-Girard reagent P (d5-GP), were synthesized and utilized to label steroid hormones in follicular fluid samples and steroid hormone standards, respectively. The heavy labeled standards were used as internal standards for quantification to minimize quantitation deviation in MS analysis due to the matrix and ion suppression effects. The ionization efficiencies of steroid hormones were greatly improved by 4–504 folds through the introduction of a permanent charged moiety of quaternary ammonium from GP. Using the developed method, we successfully quantified steroid hormones in human follicular fluid. We found that the contents of testosterone and androstenedione exhibited significant increase while the content of pregnenolone had significant decrease in follicular fluid of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) patients compared with healthy controls, indicating that these steroid hormones with significant change may contribute to the pathogenesis of PCOS. Taken together, the developed stable isotope labeling coupled LC-ESI-MS/MS analysis demonstrated to be a promising method for the sensitive and accurate determination of steroid hormones, which may facilitate the in-depth investigation of steroid hormones related diseases.

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