Development of quantitative analysis of plasma thromboxane B2 by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

In order to diagnose patients in thrombotic state, it is quite important to detect increased concentration of plasma thromboxane B2 (TXB2), a stable catabolite of TXA2. To determine plasma TXB2 levels with high sensitivity and selectivity, we employed gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The trimethylsilyl (TMS) ether derivatives conventionally employed in GC/MS analysis of prostanoids are not suitable for quantitation of plasma prostanoids, because the mass spectra are deficient in ions with high intensity in the high mass range and TMS ether derivatives are sensitive to moisture. To solve these problems we employed tert-butyldimethylsilyl (t-BDMS) ether derivatives, based on the observation that t-BDMS ether derivatives afforded abundant ions at [M-57]+ and showed good hydrolytic stability. The reaction conditions of tert-butyldimethylsilylation were also examined to optimize the selected ion monitoring response. The t-BDMS ether derivatives of prostanoids were successfully analyzed with a short capillary column with a relatively large diameter, with maintaining good separation. In conjunction with the use of reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography as purification procedure, a sensitive and reproducible stable isotope dilution assay of plasma TXB2 was developed. The values obtained by this method correlated well with those obtained by the radioimmunoassay we have developed.