Magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers coupled with UPLC-MS/MS for simultaneous detection of 19 steroid hormones in human plasma

Steroid hormones constitute a group of hormones with molecular weights ranging from 200 to 400 daltons, characterized by their highly similar chemical structures. Each hormone within this group holds significant value for the diagnosis of various diseases. Accurate clinical measurement of the levels of each hormone is crucial for the diagnosis in clinical settings. Due to the wide variety and different properties of steroid hormones in organisms, sample pretreatment is the rate-limiting step for analysis and detection. In this paper, magnetic molecule-imprinting polymers (MMIPs) were prepared by surface imprinting on silicon coated magnetic spheres, and a detection method of MMIPs-combined with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) for 19 steroid hormones in plasma was developed and verified. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy were used to confirm the formation of MMIPs materials, and the conditions of material synthesis and pretreatment of steroid hormones from plasma were optimized. The detection method was evaluated by using linearity, LOD and LOQ, precision, accuracy and matrix effect. The linearity of 19 steroid hormones was good, and the linear correlation coefficient was greater than 0.995. The coefficients of variation were 2.1–9.8 % and 1.1–9.7 % for intra-day and inter-day, respectively, and the recoveries were 83.6 %-118.2 % at low concentration, and the recoveries of medium and high concentrations were 94.6 %-113.8 % and 89.5 %-113.6 %, respectively. The coefficient of variation of Relative matrix effect of 19 steroid hormones measured in different batches of plasma was 2.1–5.4 % after isotope internal standard correction, which eliminated the influence of matrix effect.