Measuring Sulforaphane and Its Metabolites in Human Plasma: A High Throughput Method

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Nutritional Science

Background:

• Growing evidence suggests health benefits of cruciferous vegetables.
• Sulforaphane (SFN) and its metabolites (SFN-GSH, SFN-Cys, SFN-CG, SFN-NAC) possess potent antioxidant properties.
• Therapeutic applications of SFN necessitate sensitive, high-throughput quantification methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• Develop a rapid and sensitive method for quantifying SFN and its metabolites in human plasma.
• Validate the method for use in clinical investigations.

Main Methods:

• Collected plasma samples from healthy volunteers post-consumption of broccoli extract.
• Utilized Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) for SFN and metabolite quantification.
• Validated the method for accuracy and reproducibility across various concentrations.

Main Results:

• The LC-MS method demonstrated good accuracy (1.85%-14.8% bias) and reproducibility (<9.53% RSD).
• Quantification was achieved for SFN-GSH, SFN-CG, SFN-Cys, and SFN-NAC from 3.9 nM to 1000 nM.
• SFN was quantified from 7.8 nM to 1000 nM in human plasma.

Conclusions:

• Established a time- and cost-efficient method for measuring SFN and its metabolites in human plasma.
• The method is suitable for high-throughput applications in clinical trials.
• Enables accurate quantification of SFN and its metabolites at low concentrations.