LC-MS analysis of estradiol in human serum and endometrial tissue: Comparison of electrospray ionization, atmospheric pressure chemical ionization and atmospheric pressure photoionization

Accurate measurement of estradiol (E2) is important in clinical diagnostics and research. High sensitivity methods are critical for specimens with E2 concentrations at low picomolar levels, such as serum of men, postmenopausal women and children. Achieving the required assay performance with LC-MS is challenging due to the non-polar structure and low proton affinity of E2. Previous studies suggest that ionization has a major role for the performance of E2 measurement, but comparisons of different ionization techniques for the analysis of clinical samples are not available. In this study, female serum and endometrium tissue samples were used to compare electrospray ionization (ESI), atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) and atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI) in both polarities. APPI was found to have the most potential for E2 analysis, with a quantification limit of 1 fmol on-column. APCI and ESI could be employed in negative polarity, although being slightly less sensitive than APPI. In the presence of biological background, ESI was found to be highly susceptible to ion suppression, while APCI and APPI were largely unaffected by the sample matrix. Irrespective of the ionization technique, background interferences were observed when using the multiple reaction monitoring transitions commonly employed for E2 (m/z 271>159; m/z 255>145). These unidentified interferences were most severe in serum samples, varied in intensity between ionization techniques and required efficient chromatographic separation in order to achieve specificity for E2. Copyright (c) 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.