curcumin and methyl-tert-butyl-ether

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men worldwide. It is essentially dependent on potent androgens, such as testosterone (T) and dihydrotestosterone (DHT). The precursors of T and DHT, which includes androstenedione (A4) and dihydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and also the metabolites of DHT, 5α-androstane-3α,17β-diol (3α-Diol) and 5α-androstane-3β,17β-diol (3β-Diol) are able to affect the development of PCa. Therefore, it is important to simultaneously determine all these key androgens. This study aims to develop and validate an LC-MS/MS quantification method to simultaneously detect and quantify the six related androgens, including T, DHT, A4, DHEA, 3α-Diol, and 3β-Diol in limited sample volume. The sample preparation involved liquid extraction with methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), following by chemical derivatisation with hydroxylamine. The limits of quantitation for T, DHT, A4, and DHEA were 0.05nM and 3α-Diol and 3β-Diol were 0.5nM with S/N ratio of at least 5:1 by using 100μL samples.

Topics: Androgens; Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Chromatography, Liquid; Curcumin; Hydroxylamine; Liquid-Liquid Extraction; Male; Methyl Ethers; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Reproducibility of Results; Tandem Mass Spectrometry