Determination of the glucocorticoids prednisone, prednisolone, dexamethasone, and cortisol in human serum using liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry

Glucocorticoids are an important component of immunosuppressive therapy for solid organ transplantation. A method to quantitate prednisone, prednisolone, dexamethasone and cortisol in human serum has been developed. Analysis is performed utilizing reversed-phase liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. The method was validated to a lower limit of quantitation of 5.4 ng/ml for prednisone and cortisol, and 10.7 ng/ml for dexamethasone and prednisolone, with error below 7% at the lower limits. The between-day relative standard deviations ranged 2.9–7.1%. Comparison of cortisol analysis to an established method using clinical samples yielded differences below 15% for 26 of 28 determinations.