Metabolic profiling of major vitamin D metabolites using Diels-Alder derivatization and ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Biologically active forms of vitamin D are important analytical targets in both research and clinical practice. The current technology is such that each of the vitamin D metabolites is usually analyzed by individual assay. However, current LC-MS technologies allow the simultaneous metabolic profiling of entire biochemical pathways. The impediment to the metabolic profiling of vitamin D metabolites is the low level of 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D₃ in human serum (15-60 pg/mL). Here, we demonstrate that liquid-liquid or solid-phase extraction of vitamin D metabolites in combination with Diels-Alder derivatization with the commercially available reagent 4-phenyl-1,2,4- triazoline-3,5-dione (PTAD) followed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC)-electrospray/tandem mass spectrometry analysis provides rapid and simultaneous quantification of 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D₃, 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D₂, 24R,25-dihydroxyvitamin D ₃, 25-hydroxyvitamin D₃ and 25-hydroxyvitamin D ₂ in 0.5 mL human serum at a lower limit of quantification of 25 pg/mL. Precision ranged from 1.6-4.8 % and 5-16 % for 25-hydroxyvitamin D ₃ and 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D₃, respectively, using solid-phase extraction.