Neuroactive steroids are a group of steroid molecules that are involved in the regulation of functions of the nervous system. The nervous system is not only the site of their action, but their biosynthesis can also occur there. Neuroactive steroid levels depend not only on the physiological state of an individual (person’s sex, age, diurnal variation, etc.), but they are also affected by various pathological processes in the nervous system (some neurological and psychiatric diseases or injuries), and new knowledge can be gained by monitoring these processes. The aim of our research was to develop and validate a comprehensive method for the simultaneous determination of selected steroids with neuroactive effects in human serum. The developed method enables high throughput and a sensitive quantitative analysis of nine neuroactive steroid substances (pregnenolone, progesterone, 5α-dihydroprogesterone, allopregnanolone, testosterone, 5α-dihydrotestosterone, androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone, and epiandrosterone) in 150 μL of human serum by ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. The correlation coefficients above 0.999 indicated that the developed analytical procedure was linear in the range of 0.90 nmol/L to 28.46 μmol/L in human serum. The accuracy and precision of the method for all analytes ranged from 83 to 118% and from 0.9 to 14.1%, respectively. This described method could contribute to a deeper understanding of the pathophysiology of various diseases. Similarly, it can also be helpful in the search for new biomarkers and diagnostic options or therapeutic approaches.

中文翻译：

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超高效液相色谱-串联质谱法同时测定人血清中具有神经活性作用的选定类固醇


神经活性类固醇是一组参与神经系统功能调节的类固醇分子。神经系统不仅是它们的作用场所，而且它们的生物合成也可以在那里发生。神经活性类固醇水平不仅取决于个体的生理状态（人的性别、年龄、昼夜变化等），而且还受到神经系统中各种病理过程（一些神经和精神疾病或损伤）的影响，并且通过监控这些过程可以获得新知识。我们研究的目的是开发和验证一种综合方法，用于同时测定人血清中具有神经活性作用的选定类固醇。所开发的方法能够通过超高性能对 150 μL 人血清中的九种神经活性类固醇物质（孕烯醇酮、黄体酮、5α-二氢孕酮、别孕酮、睾酮、5α-二氢睾酮、雄烯二酮、脱氢表雄酮和表雄酮）进行高通量和灵敏的定量分析。液相色谱串联质谱法。相关系数高于0.999，表明所开发的分析方法在人血清中在0.90 nmol/L至28.46 μmol/L范围内呈线性。该方法对所有分析物的准确度和精密度分别为 83% 至 118% 和 0.9% 至 14.1%。这种方法可以有助于更深入地了解各种疾病的病理生理学。同样，它也有助于寻找新的生物标志物和诊断选择或治疗方法。