Simultaneous determination of sixteen metabolites related to neural tube defects in maternal serum by liquid chromatography coupling with electrospray tandem mass spectrometry.
Disturbances in maternal folate, homocysteine, and glutathione metabolism have been reported to be associated with neural tube defects (NTDs). However, the role played by specific components in the metabolic pathways leading to NTDs remains unclear. Thus an analytical method for simultaneous measurement of sixteen compounds involved in such three metabolic pathways by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was developed. The use of hydrophilic chromatography column improved the separation of polar analytes and the detection mode of multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) enhanced the specificity and sensitivity so as to achieve simultaneous determination of three class of metabolites which have much variance in polarity and contents. The influence of parameters such as temperature, pH, flow rate on the performance of the analytes were studied to get an optimal condition. The method was validated for its linearity, accuracy, and precision, and also used for the analysis of serum samples of NTDs-affected pregnancies and normal women. The result showed that the present method is sensitive and reliable for simultaneous determination of as many as sixteen interesting metabolites which may provide a new means to study the underlying mechanism of NTDs as well as to discover new potential biomarkers.
Liang
Xiao-Ping
XP
School of Pharmaceutics, East-China University of Science & Technology, PR China.
Liang
Qiong-Lin
QL
Xia
Jian-Fei
JF
Wang
Yong
Y
Hu
Ping
P
Wang
Yi-Ming
YM
Zheng
Xiao-Ying
XY
Zhang
Ting
T
Luo
Guo-An
GA
D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D003944:Diagnostic Techniques, Obstetrical and Gynecological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways; D008660:Metabolism; D009035:Mothers; D009436:Neural Tube Defects / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism*; D011247:Pregnancy; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*