[The application of LC-MS/MS in measurement of oxidative stress parameters]

Oxidative stress is frequently cited as a cause of various disease states. There is increasingly intense scientific and clinical interest in oxidative stress. However, there remain many analytical limitations to currently available assays for oxidative stress markers. Recent improvements in software, hardware, and instrumentation design have made liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectroscopy (LC-MS/MS) methods for the determination of many oxidative stress markers. In particular, LC-MS/MS could often provide the advantages of higher specificity, higher sensitivity, and the capacity to determine multiple analytes. The sensitivity limits for LC-MS/MS usually lay within the ranges of fg-pg of analyte per LC on-column injection. In this article, the present capabilities of LC-MS/MS were briefly presented and some specific examples of the strengths of these LC-MS/MS assays were discussed. The selected examples included methods for isoprostanes, oxidized proteins and amino acids, and DNA biomarkers of oxidative stress.