SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURE FOR MEASUREMENT OF SERUM DEHYDROEPIANDROSTERONE AND ITS SULFATE WITH GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY - ION-TRAP MASS-SPECTROMETRY AND SELECTED REACTION MONITORING

Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA S) are endogenous steroids that have recently been widely publicized a s potential treatments for many disorders. This paper describes a gas chromatographic-ion trap mass spectrophotometric assay with selected r eaction monitoring for measurement of DHEA and DHEAS levels. The hormo nes and internal standard (5-androsten-3 beta-or-16-one methyl eater) are extracted from serum with Oasis solid-phase extraction tubes. The extracted steroids are dissolved in methanol and injected into a Finni gan GCQ ion trap mass spectrometer. In the selected reaction mode, bot h DHEA and DHEAS can be identified and quantified in a single injectio n. No derivatization or expensive deuterated internal standards are re quired. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.