title: Ultra high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry analysis of quorum-sensing molecules of Candida albicans.
abstract: Candida albicans is generally one of the most commonly isolated fungal pathogen from human body. It is a frequent cause of nosocomial infections, bloodstream infections, urinary infections and mucosal infections of oral cavity and vagina C. albicans can grow as hyphae, pseudohyphae, or budding yeast. Morphological conversion of a yeast form to pseudohyphal or hyphal one is often characterized by the change of commensal status to an invasive form. Farnesol and tyrosol can participate in these transformation processes as quorum sensing molecules together with some physical-chemical factors. A new analytical method for identification and quantification of biologically active substances farnesol and tyrosol using ultra high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) in connection with tandem mass spectrometry was developed. The analytes were separated on Acquity BEH C18 analytical column using binary mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile and formic acid 0.075% (75:25) at flow-rate 0.20 ml/min. SRM (selected reaction monitoring) mode was applied in order to ensure sufficient selectivity and sensitivity using the first most intensive transition as a quantitative (121>77 and 205>121) and second one for the confirmation purposes (121>93 and 205>109). The method was validated in terms of linearity (>0.9994), precision (0.5-3.8% RSD), accuracy (78.9-106.0%), LOD (limit of detection) and LOQ (limit of quantitation). The method can serve as an analytical tool for the detection and determination of quorum-sensing molecules in biological samples.
authors.affiliation: Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Charles University, Heyrovského 1203, 500 05 Hradec Králové, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Petr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gregus
authors.forename: Hana
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Vlcková
authors.forename: Vladimír
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Buchta
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kestranek
authors.forename: Lucie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Krivcíková
authors.forename: Lucie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nováková
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000737:chemistry*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D005204:Farnesol / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D057230:Limit of Detection; D010626:Phenylethyl Alcohol / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D053038:Quorum Sensing; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: C011867:4-hydroxyphenylethanol; D005204:Farnesol; D010626:Phenylethyl Alcohol