title: Direct determination of acylcarnitines in amniotic fluid by column-switching liquid chromatography with electrospray tandem mass spectrometry.
abstract: A direct, simple, and simultaneous determination of acylcarnitines in amniotic fluid was developed using column-switching liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). The analytes can be assayed within 20 min without any sample preparation process, and we monitored separated acylcarnitines with positive electrospray ionization (ESI)-MS/MS. The calibration ranges of acylcarnitines were 1 to 100 nmol/L. The linearity of the method was 0.992 to 0.999, and the limits of detection at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 were 1 nmol/L. The coefficients of variation were in the range of 5.2 to 13.3% for within-day variation and 6.7 to 11.9% for day-to-day, respectively. We detected acylcarnitines in the amniotic fluid of 22 women in the early stages of their pregnancies in the range of 2.2 to 17.2 nmol/L. The proposed method could be applied to diagnosis, monitoring, and biomedical investigations of inborn errors of the organic acid and fatty acid metabolism of the embryo.
authors: Bioanalysis and Biotransformation Research Center, KIST, Chengryang, Seoul 130-605, Korea.
authors: Sung-Hee
authors: SH
authors: Cho
authors: Jeongae
authors: J
authors: Lee
authors: Won-Yong
authors: WY
authors: Lee
authors: Bong Chul
authors: BC
authors: Chung