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Differentiation of steroid isomers by steroid analogues adducted trapped ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry

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Abstract

Steroids are one of the important indicators of health and disease. However, due to the high similarity of steroid structures, there are several potential obstacles in the differentiation of steroids, especially for their isomers. Herein, we described a trapped ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry (TIMS-MS) approach based on the steroid analogue adduction for isomer-specific identification of steroids. The application of dexamethasone (DEX) to form heterodimers with steroids enhanced the separation of their isomers in TIMS. Two isomer pairs including 17-hydroxyprogesterone/11-deoxycorticosterone and androsterone/epiandrosterone were successfully separated as the heterodimers with DEX by TIMS. The stability of DEX-adducted heterodimers is comparable with steroid dimers. Owing to the high separation efficiency and stability, the relative quantification of steroid isomers was demonstrated with the proposed method.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22204085) and the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. LQ23B050005.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Advanced Mass Spectrometry and Molecular Analysis of Zhejiang Province, Institute of Mass Spectrometry, School of Material Science and Chemical Engineering, Ningbo University, Ningbo, 315211, Zhejiang, China

    Yang Li, Ling Ling & Chuan-Fan Ding

  2. Institut Pasteur of Shanghai, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200031, China

    Yujiao Qin

  3. Ningbo No.6 Hospital, Ningbo, 315040, Zhejiang, China

    Songchang Wei

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  1. Yang Li
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  2. Yujiao Qin
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  3. Songchang Wei
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  4. Ling Ling
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  5. Chuan-Fan Ding
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Contributions

Yang Li: data curation; visualization; investigation; methodology; writing original draft. Yujiao Qin: methodology; investigation. Songchang Wei: methodology; investigation. Ling Ling: resources; funding acquisition; supervision; conceptualization; writing—review and editing. Chuan-Fan Ding: supervision; resources; funding acquisition; writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Ling Ling or Chuan-Fan Ding.

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Li, Y., Qin, Y., Wei, S. et al. Differentiation of steroid isomers by steroid analogues adducted trapped ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry. Anal Bioanal Chem 416, 313–319 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-023-05019-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-023-05019-5

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