The Simultaneous measurement of serum testosterone and 5α-dihydrotestosterone by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Simultaneous measurement of serum testosterone and 5α-dihydrotestosterone by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)

AU - Kannenberg, Frank

AU - Fobker, Manfred

AU - Schulte, Erhard

AU - Pierściński, Grzegorz

AU - Kelsch, Reinhard

AU - Zitzmann, Michael

AU - Nofer, Jerzy-Roch

AU - Schüring, Andreas N

N1 - Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

PY - 2018/1

Y1 - 2018/1

N2 - BACKGROUND: Simultaneous measurement of testosterone (T) and 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) is important for diagnosing androgen deficiency states and hyperandrogenism in males and females, respectively. However, immunoassays used for T and DHT determination suffer from inadequate specificity and sensitivity, while tandem mass spectrometry is expensive and demanding in use.METHODS AND RESULTS: We developed a selective gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method for parallel T and DHT measurement. The assay showed a linear response up to 46.5nmol/L, intra- and interassay imprecision and inaccuracy <15% and recoveries in spiked samples >90% for both analytes. The limit of quantitation was 0.117nmol/L for T and 0.168nmol/L for DHT. Comparison with immunoassays revealed good agreement for T in males, but a bias in favour of immunoassays at low concentrations for T in females and DHT in both sexes. We established reference ranges for T and DHT and suggest interval partitioning for T according to age in men and menstrual cycle in women. Assay validation in a clinical setting suggests that measuring DHT or T/DHT ratio may help identify patients with polycystic ovary syndrome.CONCLUSION: We developed a selective, simple and inexpensive GC-MS method for parallel measurement of T and DHT with potential use in the clinical laboratory.

AB - BACKGROUND: Simultaneous measurement of testosterone (T) and 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) is important for diagnosing androgen deficiency states and hyperandrogenism in males and females, respectively. However, immunoassays used for T and DHT determination suffer from inadequate specificity and sensitivity, while tandem mass spectrometry is expensive and demanding in use.METHODS AND RESULTS: We developed a selective gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method for parallel T and DHT measurement. The assay showed a linear response up to 46.5nmol/L, intra- and interassay imprecision and inaccuracy <15% and recoveries in spiked samples >90% for both analytes. The limit of quantitation was 0.117nmol/L for T and 0.168nmol/L for DHT. Comparison with immunoassays revealed good agreement for T in males, but a bias in favour of immunoassays at low concentrations for T in females and DHT in both sexes. We established reference ranges for T and DHT and suggest interval partitioning for T according to age in men and menstrual cycle in women. Assay validation in a clinical setting suggests that measuring DHT or T/DHT ratio may help identify patients with polycystic ovary syndrome.CONCLUSION: We developed a selective, simple and inexpensive GC-MS method for parallel measurement of T and DHT with potential use in the clinical laboratory.

KW - Adult

KW - Dihydrotestosterone/blood

KW - Female

KW - Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

KW - Humans

KW - Male

KW - Testosterone/blood

KW - Young Adult

U2 - 10.1016/j.cca.2017.10.030

DO - 10.1016/j.cca.2017.10.030

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 29122541

VL - 476

SP - 15

EP - 24

JO - CLIN CHIM ACTA

JF - CLIN CHIM ACTA

SN - 0009-8981

ER -