Gas chromatography profile of estrogens: application to pregnancy urine

A method for the simultaneous quantitation of 7 estrogens in pregnancy urine is described. It involves enzymatic hydrolysis extraction of free steroids, ion-exchange column chromatography and quantitation of the trimethylsilyl derivatives by gas chromatography on OV 1. Data obtained from normal and twin pregnancies and from women with anencephalic fetus or intra uterine fetal death are analysed. The sensibility of the method is about 40 mug of each estrogen by liter of urine.