LC-UV and LC-MS/MS detection and quantification of steroid hormones in edible food samples and water using solid phase extraction

Animal products are a major source of human exposure to steroids, this resulted in a critical request for applicable methods for the determination of these steroid hormones in pure form and in different matrices such as hen eggs, chicken liver and water. The aim was to develop a reliable LC-UV and LC-MS/MS for the determination of selected steroid hormones in edible samples, using SFE and LLE for sample preparation. LC-MS/MS method was validated for separation and quantification of selected steroid hormones; Ethinyl oestradiol, testosterone, 17 alpha methyltestosterone, and progesterone, using mobile phase of methanol and 0.1% Formic in ratio (70:30) at different m/z ratios. The developed method has satisfactory linearity and the spiking recoveries of the steroid hormones were between 90.25% and 99.45% with RSDs lower than 5%. The results demonstrated that the developed approach has high sensitivity and repeatability and can be helpful in the determination of steroid residues in complex food matrices.