Developing an ultra‐performance liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry for detecting aldosterone in human plasma

BACKGROUND: Accurately measuring plasma aldosterone concentration is difficult but meaningful for primary aldosteronism (PA) diagnosis. METHODS: In this study, we developed an ultra‐performance liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC‐MS/MS) method for plasma aldosterone detection, evaluated its performance according to guidelines issued by CLSI, including detection limit, linearity, precision, and compared it with chemiluminescence immunoassay. Then, a reference range of plasma aldosterone in young people was established by using this method. RESULTS: The lower limit of quantitation (LOQ) was 10 pg/ml. The mean recovery rates of analyte added to serum were 100.07–102.05% in different concentrations. The linearity range was 20–2000 pg/ml. Inter‐assay CVs were 2.20–3.97% at aldosterone concentrations of 65.66–854.75 pg/ml. The regression equation of UPLC‐MS/MS (x) and chemiluminescence immunoassay (y) was y = 1.002x + 65.854 (r = 0.9456, n = 237). The reference range of plasma aldosterone detected by UPLC‐MS/MS was 11.30–363.82 pg/ml in young people in South China, and there was no statistically significant difference in plasma aldosterone concentration between two genders. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, UPLC‐MS/MS can rapidly and accurately detect plasma aldosterone and is appropriate for clinical application.