Detection of dehydroepiandrosterone and androsterone in a traditional Chinese herbal product

Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and androsterone (ADT) were detected in a traditional Chinese herbal product by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). DHEA and ADT were tentatively identified by comparing their electron ionization (EI) mass spectra with those in the GC-MS Wiley database. A multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) scan was performed in LC-MS/MS to confirm the presence of the DHEA and ADT in the herbal product extract. Both the [M + H] and the [M + NH] of DHEA and ADT were selected as the precursor ions. DHEA was detected with ion transitions m/z 306.4 → 271.2, 306.4 → 253.3, 289.2 → 270.9, 289.3 → 253.1 while ADT was detected with ion transitions m/z 308.5 → 273.6, 308.5 → 255.3, 291.5 → 273.5, 291.5 → 255.2, which confirmed the presence of the two steroid hormones in the herbal product. Limits of detection (LODs) of 0.2 μg ml for DHEA and 0.3 μg ml for ADT were found in methanolic standard solutions when [M + NH] of DHEA and ADT were selected as the precursor ions, which allowed the detection of DHEA and ADT at trace level without time-consuming derivatization.