A Sensitive and Specific Liquid ChromatographyTandem Mass Spectrometry Assay for Simultaneous Quantification of Salivary Melatonin and Cortisol:Development and Comparison With Immunoassays
10.3343/alm.2021.41.1.108
- Author:
Sunghwan SHIN
1
;
Hyeonju OH
;
Hea Ree PARK
;
Eun Yeon JOO
;
Soo-Youn LEE
Author Information
1. Department of Laboratory Medicine and Genetics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
- Publication Type:Brief Communication
- From:Annals of Laboratory Medicine
2021;41(1):108-113
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Melatonin and cortisol are clinically important for diagnosing sleep and mood disorders.We developed and validated a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/ MS) assay for simultaneous measurement of salivary melatonin and cortisol concentrations according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. Additionally, we compared the LC-MS/MS assay with immunoassays, ELISA (Direct Salivary Melatonin Elisa EK-DSM, Bühlmann Laboratories AG, Schönenbuch, Switzerland) and electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (Cortisol II, Roche, Mannheim, Germany), using 121 saliva samples. The LC-MS/MS assay exhibited good performance in terms of linearity, precision, accuracy, limit of detection, lower limit of quantification, extraction recovery, carry-over, and matrix effect. The LC-MS/MS assay and immunoassays showed strong correlation (Pearson’s r = 0.910 for melatonin, r = 0.955 for cortisol), but demonstrated a significant mean bias of 23.2% (range 54.0–143.7%) for melatonin and 48.9% (range 59.7–184.7%) for cortisol. Our LC-MS/MS assay provided more sensitive and reliable salivary melatonin and cortisol quantification results compared with immunoassays.
