Determination of urinary 8-epi-prostaglandin F2α using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry:: increased excretion in diabetics

Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS-MS) was applied to the quantitative analysis of urinary 8-epi-prostaglandin F-2 alpha (8-epi-PGF(2 alpha)) level. 8-Epi-PGF(2 alpha) and its internal standard, [2H(4)]-8-epi-PGF(2 alpha), were extracted from urine by using a solid phase extraction cartridge and loaded to LC/MS-MS in selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode, The standard curve showed good linearity in the range of 40 pg to 10 ng (r = 0.997). The accuracy of the added 8-epi-PGF(2 alpha) ranged from 96.8 to 104.9% with a mean +/- SD of 99.5 +/- 2.5%. The average level +/- SD of urinary 8-epi-PGF(2 alpha) in 13 healthy volunteers (five women and eight men, 31 +/- 7.4 years old) was 429.4 +/- 149.6 pg/mg creatinine. The level of seven patients with noninsulin dependent diabetes mellitus (two women and five men, 40 +/- 13.6 years old), 630.9 +/- 275.6 pg/mg creatinine, was statistically higher than that of healthy volunteers (P < 0.05). This finding suggested that diabetics are in a highly oxidative condition. This simple and rapid LC/MS-MS method can be used to elucidate the pathophysiological feature of diabetes or for monitoring the curative effect. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.