title: Determination of sulfates of androsterone and epiandrosterone in human serum using isotope diluted liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry.
abstract: A promising liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS) for analysis of the sulfates of 5alpha-androgen, androsterone and epiandrosterone (A-S and EpiA-S) in human serum was developed. The method was used to assess one of the markers of 5alpha-reductase activity of males including patients with prostate cancer (PC). After deproteinization with acetonitrile, the androgen sulfates and the internal standard, [7,7,16,16-2H4]dehydroepiandrosterone-S, were extracted from human serum using a solid-phase extraction cartridge and washed with hexane. The extract was reconstituted and applied to the LC/ESI-MS system operated in the selected ion monitoring mode. The method was validated over the range 0.02-5 microg/mL (A-S) and 0.005-1.5 microg/mL (EpiA-S) using 10 microL of human serum. The method was a concise procedure without chemical or enzymatic hydrolysis of the conjugates, purification by high-performance liquid chromatography and/or derivatization, and proved to be satisfactory in its reproducibility and accuracy. The levels of these androgen sulfates tended to decrease during aging, and the A-S levels in the sera obtained from both healthy males and patients with PC were correlated with their EpiA-S levels.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Kanazawa University, Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan.
authors.forename: Kuniko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mitamura
authors.forename: Misako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Setaka
authors.forename: Kazutake
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shimada
authors.forename: Seijiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Honma
authors.forename: Mikio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Namiki
authors.forename: Eitetsu
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mizokami
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000738:Androsterone / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D019314:Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate / Q000097:blood; D003903:Deuterium; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D019314:Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate; D003903:Deuterium; D000738:Androsterone; C026905:androsterone sulfate