Mass fragmentographic analysis of total cholesterol in serum using a heptadeuterated internal standard

A mass fragmentographic method for the determination of total cholesterol in serum using heptadeuterated [25,26,26,26,27,27,27-2H]cholesterol as internal standard is presented. The results obtained are compared with a colorimetric and gas chromatographic method which were previously proposed as reference methods. Criteria for the development of absolute measurement by means of mass fragmentography and stable isotopically labelled internal standards are given. The conclusion is drawn that, at present, mass fragmentographic methods for the determination of total cholesterol in serum do not fulfil the criteria required for absolute methods.