• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.68-73
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• 2012

Fat malabsorption is an important cause of poor growth in infancy and childhood. Steatorrhea tests have been developed using various methods. Traditional measurements of stool fat, however, require large samples and it often takes as a week to complete the analysis. In this paper, a liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry (LC-ESI/MS) method was developed for simultaneous quantitative analysis of triacylglycerols, triolein, diolein and monoolein, in mouse feces. Moreover, the procedure was rapid, simple as well as compatible with LC-ESI/MS. Chloroform-isopropyl alcohol solution was used for fat-soluble sample extraction. After centrifugation and filtration, an analytical solution was prepared. Triolein, diolein and monoolein were separated using non-aqueous reversed-phase column with the mobile phase consisting of A (methanol) and B (acetone-isopropyl alcohol). The precision (% CV) and accuracy (% bias) of the assay were 3.8-14.7% and 85.2-114.9%, respectively. This method has been successfully applied to simultaneous determination of triolein, diolein and monoolein in feces from 30 mice. This method can therefore be applied to measure triacylglycerols in mouse feces accurately and precisely by LC-ESI/MS, thereby helping to predictive biomarker in fat malabsorption and diagnostic research.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.90-97
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• 2017

Androgenic anabolic steroids (AASs) are synthetic derivatives of testosterone with a common structure containing cyclopentanoperhydrophenanthrene nucleus. Their use enhances the muscle building capacity and is beneficial during performance. The AASs are one of the most abused group of substances in horse doping. Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry ($LC/MS^n$) has been successfully applied to the detection of anabolic steroids in biological samples. However, the saturated hydroxysteroids viz: nandrolone, $5{\alpha}-estrane-3{\beta}$, $17{\alpha}-diol$ exhibit lower detection responses in electrospray ionisation (ESI) because of their poor ionisation efficiency. To overcome this limitation pre-column chemical derivatization has been introduced to enhance their detection responses in $LC-ESI-MS^n$ analysis. The aim of present study was to develop a sensitive method for identification and confirmation of nandrolone and its metabolite in horse urine incorporating pre-column derivatization using picolinic acid. The method consists of extraction of targeted steroid conjugates by solid phase extraction (SPE). The eluted steroid conjugates were hydrolysed by methanolysis and free steroids were recovered with liquid-liquid extraction. The resulting steroids were derivatized to form picolinoyl esters and identification was done using LC-ESI-MS/MS in positive ionization mode. The picolinated steroid adduct enhanced the detection levels in comparison to underivatized steroids.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.37-40
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• 2011

Saccharin is a commonly used artificial sweetener in foodstuffs. However, for its carcinogenic dispute, it has been regulated by government bodies. In this study, isotope dilution mass spectrometry (ID-MS) was introduced for the accurate quantification of saccharin. To employ ID-LC/MS, we obtained its isotope analogue, $^{13}C_1$-sodium saccharin, by customized synthesis. Samples were spiked with $^{13}C_1$-sodium saccharin and analyzed with LC/MS in negative mode. Chromatographic conditions were optimized for the adequate chromatographic retention and separation of saccharin with a $C_{18}$ column. MS was operated with electrospray ionization by the selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode of $[M-H]^-$ for saccharin (m/z 182) and $[M-Na]^-$ for its isotope analogue (m/z 183). To validate the ID-LC/MS method for accurate measurement, we prepared a batch of a candidate material by sortifying quasi-tea-drinks with saccharin and analyzed samples gravimetrically fortified in various levels of concentration. The repeatability and reproducibility of this method was tested by analyzing the reference material. Result show that ID-LC/MS is a reliable method for the quantitative analysis of saccharin.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.55-58
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• 2013

Dioscin is a biologically active steroidal saponin with anticancer and hepatoprotective effects. A rapid, selective, and sensitive liquid chromatographic method with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry was developed for the quantification of dioscin in rat plasma. Dioscin was extracted from rat plasma using ethyl acetate at acidic pH. The analytes were separated on a Halo C18 column using gradient elution of acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid and detected by tandem mass spectrometry in selected reaction monitoring mode. The standard curve was linear ($r^2$ = 0.998) over the concentration range of 1-100 ng/mL. The lower limit of quantification was 1.0 ng/mL using 50 ${\mu}L$ of plasma sample. The coefficient of variation and relative error for intra- and inter-assay at four QC levels were 1.3 to 8.0% and -5.4 to 10.0%, respectively. This method was applied successfully to the pharmacokinetic study of dioscin after oral administration of dioscin at a dose of 29.2 mg/kg in male Sprague-Dawley rats.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.81-85
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• 2018

In this study, the chemical composition of bacterial melanin isolated from the Streptomyces glaucescens strain was elucidated by ultra-high-resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometry. Ultra-high-resolution mass profiles of the microbial melanin product were acquired using a 15 Tesla FT-ICR mass spectrometer in positive and negative ion modes via electrospray ionization to obtain more complete descriptions of the molecular compositions of melanin-derived organic constituents. A mass resolving power of 500,000 (at m/z 400) was achieved for all spectra while collecting 400 scans per sample with a 4 M transient. The results of this analysis revealed that the melanin pigment isolated from S. glaucescens predominantly exhibits CHON and CHO species, which belong to the proteins class of compounds, with the mean C/O and C/N ratios of 4.3 and 13.1, thus suggesting that the melanin could be eumelanin. This analytical approach could be utilized to investigate the molecular compositions of a variety of natural or synthetic melanins. The compositional features of melanins are important for understanding their formation mechanisms and physico-chemical properties.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.87-92
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• 2012

In this study, we explored a new approach for generating ions of organics and biomolecules using contactless atmospheric pressure ionization (C-API). That is, a tapered capillary (~20 cm) was connected to a syringe, which was coupled to a syringe pump for providing a given flow rate to introduce sample solution to the proximity of a mass spectrometer. The gas phase ions derived from analytes were readily formed in the capillary outlet, which was very close to the mass spectrometer (~1 mm). No external electric connection was applied on the capillary emitter. This setup is very simple, but it can function as an ion source. This approach can be readily used for the analysis of small molecules such as amino acids and large molecules such as peptides and proteins. The limit of the detection of this approach was estimated to be ~10 pM when using bradykinin as the sample. Thus, we believe that this approach should be very useful for being used as an alternative ion source because of its low cost, high sensitivity, simplicity, and ease of operation.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.159-162
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• 2021

The fragmentation pattern of four hindered phenol antioxidants was investigated using ammonium and lithium ions as the additives for ionization. Due to different binding geometries and interactions, they underwent different characteristic fragmentation reactions providing useful complementary information for structural analysis of hindered phenol antioxidants. Ammonium ion adducts were fragmented successively until all t-butyl groups were lost in the form of isobutylene and allowed the estimation of the number of t-butyl groups present in the molecule. Lithium ion adducts produced fragment ions from major backbone cleavage, on the other hand, which provide more crucial information for the identification of detailed backbone structure.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.118-124
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• 2021

Many previous studies have focused on revealing the harmfulness of microplastic particles, whereas very few studies have focused on the effects of chemicals, particularly photooxidation product. In this study, products of photodegradation from expanded polystyrene (EPS), compounds produced by photolysis by ultraviolet (UV) light, were investigated. EPS was directly irradiated and photolyzed using a UV lamp, and then the extracted sample was analyzed using high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). Multiple ionization techniques, including electrospray ionization, atmospheric pressure chemical ionization, and atmospheric pressure photoionization, were used. In total, >300 compounds were observed, among which polystyrene monomer, dimer, and oxidized products were observed. In this work, the data presented clearly demonstrate that it is necessary to identify and monitor oxidized plastic compounds and assess their effect on the environment.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.11
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• pp.761-765
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• 2010

Salivary testosterone levels in Korean adults were quantitatively measured for the first time by liquid chromatography-electrospray-tandem mass spectrometry (LC ESI MS/MS). Salivary testosterone was separated on a multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) chromatogram within 7 min. The LC ESI MS/MS assay was validated over the linearity range of 0.01-2.00 ng/ml (r=0.99987) using testosterone-$d_3$ as an internal standard. The lower limit of quantification (LOQ) was 0.01 ng/ml. The intra- and inter-assay precisions were 1.54% to 4.09% and 0.96% to 4.29%, respectively. The mean recovery was 93.32% (range 88.43-98.05%). The validated assay was then applied to measure the salivary testosterone levels of Korean adults. In men, the salivary testosterone level collected between 9：00-11：00 am was approximately 2.8 times higher than that in women (P < 0.0001). Salivary testosterone levels in both sexes negatively correlated with age. The present assay would also be useful in measuring salivary testosterone levels in clinical laboratories.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.93-105
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• 2021

Exosomes have gained the attention of the scientific community because of their role in facilitating intercellular communication, which is critical in disease monitoring and drug delivery research. Exosome research has grown significantly in recent decades, with a focus on the development of various technologies for isolating and characterizing exosomes. Among these efforts is the use of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry (MS), which offers high-throughput direct analysis while also being cost and time effective. MALDI is used less frequently in exosome research than electrospray ionization due to the diverse population of extracellular vesicles and the impurity of isolated products, both of which necessitate chromatographic separation prior to MS analysis. However, MALDI-MS is a more appropriate instrument for the analytical approach to patient therapy, given it allows for fast and label-free analysis. There is a huge drive to explore MALDI-MS in exosome research because the technology holds great potential, most notably in biomarker discovery. With methods such as fingerprint analysis, OMICs profiling, and statistical analysis, the search for biomarkers could be much more efficient. In this review, we highlight the potential of MALDI-MS as a tool for investigating exosomes and some of the possible strategies that can be implemented based on prior research.