Detection of dehydroepiandrosterone and androsterone in a traditional Chinese herbal product

• Published in: Food additives and contaminants 2007-12, Vol.24 (12), p.1326-1333
• Main Authors: Zou, P, Chen, P, Oh, S.S.Y, Kiang, K.H, Low, M.Y
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: androsterone; Androsterone - analysis; Androsterone - chemistry; Biological and medical sciences; chemical composition; Dehydroepiandrosterone; Dehydroepiandrosterone - analysis; Dehydroepiandrosterone - chemistry; detection limits; Drugs, Chinese Herbal - analysis; Food industries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; gas chromatography; gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS); Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry - methods; General aspects; herbal medicines; herbal product; Hygiene and safety; liquid chromatography; liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS); mass spectrometry; medicinal properties; Methods of analysis, processing and quality control, regulation, standards; Oriental traditional medicine; prasterone; quantitative analysis; Tandem Mass Spectrometry - methods
• ISSN: 0265-203X; 1464-5122
• DOI: 10.1080/02652030701422473

Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and androsterone (ADT) were detected in a traditional Chinese herbal product by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). DHEA and ADT were tentatively identified by comparing their electron ionization (EI) mass spectra with those in the GC-MS Wiley database. A multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) scan was performed in LC-MS/MS to confirm the presence of the DHEA and ADT in the herbal product extract. Both the [M + H] + and the [M + NH 4 ] + of DHEA and ADT were selected as the precursor ions. DHEA was detected with ion transitions m/z 306.4 → 271.2, 306.4 → 253.3, 289.2 → 270.9, 289.3 → 253.1 while ADT was detected with ion transitions m/z 308.5 → 273.6, 308.5 → 255.3, 291.5 → 273.5, 291.5 → 255.2, which confirmed the presence of the two steroid hormones in the herbal product. Limits of detection (LODs) of 0.2 µg ml −1 for DHEA and 0.3 µg ml −1 for ADT were found in methanolic standard solutions when [M + NH 4 ] + of DHEA and ADT were selected as the precursor ions, which allowed the detection of DHEA and ADT at trace level without time-consuming derivatization.