Development of an extraction method for the determination of prostaglandins in biological tissue samples using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry: Application to gonads of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua)

A simple extraction method for the analysis of PGE2 and PGF2α in gonad samples from Atlantic cod and further quantification by using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry is proposed. The evaluation of the best solvent extraction conditions and the analytical performance parameters are reported. The method was highly selective for both prostaglandins and the calibration curves, based on the internal standard method, were linear between 5 and 1000 ng mL−1 for PGE2 and PGF2α, with limits of detection of 1 ng mL−1 and 1.5 ng mL−1 and recovery values of 99.999 ± 0.002 and 99.967 ± 0.023 respectively. The homogenization of samples using liquid nitrogen combined with the developed extraction protocol can be implemented in different types of biological tissues.

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► Novel method for extraction of prostaglandins from fish gonads using LC–MS/MS.
► Key features: low sample and solvent consumption and high sample throughput.
► The method is a better alternative to ELISA generally used in reproduction studies.