Journal of Lipid Research (Jun 2015)

A validated LC-MS/MS assay for quantification of 24(S)-hydroxycholesterol in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid

  • Rohini Sidhu,
  • Hui Jiang,
  • Nicole Y. Farhat,
  • Nuria Carrillo-Carrasco,
  • Myra Woolery,
  • Elizabeth Ottinger,
  • Forbes D. Porter,
  • Jean E. Schaffer,
  • Daniel S. Ory,
  • Xuntian Jiang

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 56, no. 6
pp. 1222 – 1233

Abstract

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24(S)-hydroxycholesterol [24(S)-HC] is a cholesterol metabolite that is formed almost exclusively in the brain. The concentrations of 24(S)-HC in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and/or plasma might be a sensitive marker of altered cholesterol metabolism in the CNS. A highly sensitive 2D-LC-MS/MS assay was developed for the quantification of 24(S)-HC in human plasma and CSF. In the development of an assay for 24(S)-HC in CSF, significant nonspecific binding of 24(S)-HC was observed and resolved with the addition of 2.5% 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) into CSF samples. The sample preparation consists of liquid-liquid extraction with methyl-tert-butyl ether and derivatization with nicotinic acid. Good linearity was observed in a range from 1 to 200 ng/ml and from 0.025 to 5 ng/ml, for plasma and CSF, respectively. Acceptable precision and accuracy were obtained for concentrations over the calibration curve ranges. Stability of 24(S)-HC was reported under a variety of storage conditions. This method has been successfully applied to support a National Institutes of Health-sponsored clinical trial of HP-β-CD in Niemann-Pick type C1 patients, in which 24(S)-HC is used as a pharmacodynamic biomarker.

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