Quantitatively Determining 15 Endogenous Steroids in Human Serum

Hormonal balance plays a vital role in maintaining health throughout life. As both men and women age, changes in hormone levels can contribute to various health issues that may be managed through hormone replacement therapy (HRT). However, as noted by Women’s Healthcare Associates, hormone metabolism varies widely among individuals. Accurate hormone monitoring is critical to ensure safe and effective therapy while minimizing risks of conditions such as cancer, dementia, and bone density loss.

The Importance of Quantifying Endogenous Steroids

To properly evaluate hormone replacement therapies and overall endocrine health, researchers must precisely measure endogenous steroid levels in biological samples such as human serum. Accurate quantitation provides clinicians and researchers with essential insights into patient hormone profiles and treatment responses.

Historically, liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) has been the standard method for isolating steroids from biological matrices like serum and plasma. While effective, LLE is often labor-intensive, time-consuming, and limited by low recovery rates and inconsistent reproducibility.

A Modern Approach: Supported Liquid Extraction with Chem Elut S

Agilent Technologies has demonstrated an advanced workflow for the quantitative determination of 15 endogenous steroids in human serum using LC/MS/MS. Their Chem Elut S supported liquid extraction (SLE) plates enable faster, cleaner, and more reproducible extraction than traditional LLE.

The synthetic SLE media in Chem Elut S plates provides consistent pore size, higher water-holding capacity, and improved batch-to-batch performance compared to natural diatomaceous earth sorbents. The result is higher analyte recovery, reduced emulsions, and greater reproducibility for quantitative steroid profiling.

Advantages of Chem Elut S for Steroid Analysis

• Higher recovery rates: Synthetic media provide improved analyte retention and elution efficiency.
• Better reproducibility: Consistent particle morphology minimizes sample-to-sample variation.
• Reduced sample prep time: Eliminates manual mixing and centrifugation steps common in LLE.
• Enhanced throughput: 96-well plate format supports batch processing for clinical or research applications.

Reliable Tools for Quantitative LC/MS/MS Workflows

By combining Chem Elut S supported liquid extraction plates with Agilent LC/MS/MS instrumentation, laboratories can accurately quantify multiple endogenous steroids in a single run. This method provides robust analytical precision and repeatability, improving confidence in hormone-level monitoring for HRT studies and clinical diagnostics.

Partner with Chrom Tech

Chrom Tech is a Minnesota-based, worldwide distributor of chromatography and mass spectrometry instrumentation and consumables. We provide vials, well plates, syringe filters, solvent waste containers, and other critical laboratory supplies. Contact Chrom Tech to find the right tools for your quantitative steroid analysis workflows.