Liquid Chromatography with Orbitrap High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry for the Determination of Glucose in Saliva Following Derivatization with Dibenzylamine

Abstract

As an important circulating metabolite in the body, the accurate determination of glucose in body fluids is very important for the evaluation of physiological status. However, liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) methods present challenges for glucose due to poor ionization combined with weak chromatographic retention. Here, a method for determining salivary glucose using LC–MS after derivation by dibenzylamine is described in which 3-O-methyl-D-glucopyranose was used as internal standard. Saliva samples were prepared by protein precipitation, and the analytes were separated on a polar-copolymerized C18 reversed phase column. Detection took place by high-resolution orbitrap mass spectrometry after ionization in the positive mode. The calibration function was linear from 0.35 to 50 ng/mL. The recoveries were from 97.82 to 104.51% for intraday assays and 98.96 to 106.61% for interday assays. The intraday precision of salivary glucose was from 0.37% to 1.43% and the interday precision from 1.33% to 1.43%. The limits of detection and quantification in saliva were 0.2 and 0.6 ng/mL. The samples after derivatization were stored at 4 °C and 25 °C and analyzed every two days with five repeats. The relative standard deviations were 0.09% and 0.27% at 4 °C and 25 °C. This method was employed for the determination of the glucose in saliva for healthy male college students after exercise.