Comparison of different liquid chromatography methods for the determination of corticosteroids in biological matrices

Various extraction techniques can be combined with column liquid chromatography (LC) and ultraviolet (UV) or mass spectrometric (MS) detection for the determination of synthetic corticosteroids in biological matrices. Target analysis of low concentrations of 25 μg/kg of dexamethasone in feed can be performed by combining immunoaffinity chromatography (IAC) and LC with UV detection. A straightforward multi-analyte procedure is obtained by tandem solid-phase extraction (SPE) and subsequent LC–UV. However, the limits of detection for feed samples are then relatively poor, viz. 100 μg/kg. A multi-analyte method which meets modern demands of about 5 μg/kg detection limit requires one-step SPE combined with LC–MS analysis. As regards urine corticosteroids can be determined down to a level of 0.5 μg/l by either SPE–LC–MS–MS or SPE(IAC)–LC–MS.