Establishing and Verifying a Robust Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry Method to Simultaneously Measure Seven Androgens Present in Plasma Samples

Objectives: To develop a robust liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) method to simultaneously measure seven human plasma androgens, namely testosterone (T), dihydrotestosterone (DHT), androstenedione (A4), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), (DHEA), 11-ketotestosterone (11-KetoT), and 11β-hydroxytestosterone (11β-OHT). Design Methods: Plasma was extracted via solid phase extraction method, the analytical performance of assay validated according Clinical & Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. Overall, 73 apparently healthy volunteers were recruited evaluate distribution these androgens; their levels in 25 females with acne 33 obese also evaluated. Results: The developed exhibited good precision, total coefficient variations (CV) intra-assay CVs being within 10%. Furthermore, recoveries T, DHT, A4, DHEA, DHEAS, 11-KetoT, 11β-OHT 90.3–105.8, 88.7–98.1, 92.4–102.5, 90.5–106.7, 87.6–99.9, 93.3–105.3, 90.2–104.4%, respectively, no significant matrix effect observed after internal standard correction (<20%). Moreover, limits quantification 0.01, 0.10, 5.00, 0.02, 0.02 ng/mL for 11β-OHT, which are adequate accurate measurement samples. It determined that patients diagnosed had significantly higher while those suffering from obesity T A4 but lower DHT. Conclusions: A LC-MS/MS simultaneous determination androgens samples successfully established validated, plays important roles clinical application.