Determination of Cortisol in Hair Using Uhplc–Ms/Ms: Application to Patients Admitted for Ethanol Dependence Treatment

Abstract

Aim: Cortisol hair levels can be used to evaluate chronic stress status. In this context, an improved UHPLC–MS/MS assay for the determination of cortisol in hair was developed and validated. Materials & methods: Hair was extracted with methanol for 4h at 25°C. Chromatographic run time was 5.5min. The assay was linear in the range of 1–250pgmg^-1. Precision was 3.6–12.2% and accuracy 97.1–103.8%. The method was applied in hair from 19 volunteers admitted at a rehabilitation clinic, with ethanol consumption classified using ethyl glucuronide hair levels. Conclusion: Abstinent/chronic moderate ethanol consumers had significantly lower cortisol hair levels than chronic excessive consumers. This is the first study evaluating cortisol hair levels in ethanol abuse patients using an objective marker for ethanol consumption.

Keywords::

• chronic ethanol consumption
• cortisol
• ethyl glucuronide
• hair
• UHPLC–MS/MS

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This work was supported by Universidade Feevale. R Linden is recipient of a research scholarship from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development in Brazil (CNPQ, grant no: 306587/2019-0). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate Institutional Review Board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.