Establishment of a method for the determination of glutamine concentration in human serum by UPLC/MS/MS

OBJECTIVE To establish a novel and underivatized method for the determination of glutamine(Gln)in serum with ultra performance liquid chromatography combined with tandem mass spectrometry(UPLC/MS/MS)and to provide a reliable method to detect serum Gln in clinic.METHODS The serum samples without derivation were detected with UPLC/MS/ MS method.The mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile and 4 mol·L-1 ammonium formate(80∶20).The analyses were carried out by multiple reaction monitoring(MRM)in positive ion mode by electrospray ionization(ESI)using the precursor-to-product combinations of m/z146.8→83.6(Gln)and m/z103.42→57.72(IS,internal standard).RESULTS The assay exhibited a linear range of 30-600μg·ml-1(r20.99).The recoveries of quality sample(QC)for Gln in low,medium and high concentrations were(101.1±7.1)%,(98.8±6.2)% and(96.3±2.6)%,respectively.The inter-day and intra-day precision were 7.7%,1.3%,4.3%and 7.4%,4.0%,3.8%,respectively.The QC sample under the conditions,such as placing for 8 h under room temperature,4℃for 24 h,had better stability.CONCLUSION The quantitative analysis method of Gln is convenient, stable and accurate,which could be suitable to the clinical detection of serum Gln and provides the important biochemical foundation to the clinical use of Gln.