Quantification of Three Prohibited Anabolic-Androgenic Steroids in Equine Urine using Gas Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

Anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) are used illegally to enhance muscle development and increase strength and power. In this study, a reliable, and sensitive quantitative method was developed and validated using heptafluorobutyric acid anhydride (HFPA) derivatives for the simultaneous detection of prohibited AAS (testosterone [TS], boldenone [BD], 5α-estrane-3β,17α-diol [EAD]) using gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). For processing the samples, solid phase extraction, methanolic hydrolysis, and liquid-liquid extraction were used. For detection using mass spectrometry, the mul-tiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode was used with the electron ionization (EI) positive mode. The method was evaluated for selectivity, linearity, lower limit of quantification, intra-and inter-day precision, accuracy, and stability. The results showed that the method was accurate and reproducible for the quantitation of the three steroids. The developed method was finally applied to the analysis of a suspect gelding urine sample received from the Asian Quality Assurance Program (AQAP). © 2023, Korean Society for Mass Spectrometry. All rights reserved.