Estrogens and Their Analytics by Hyphenated Separation Techniques

Abstract

Estrogens as biologically active compounds belong to a group of steroids hormones. The definition of these substances is a very important factor in humans. These compounds play an essential role because regulate many physiological processes, including normal cell growth, development and tissue-specific gene regulation in the reproductive tract and in the central nervous and skeleton systems. The much higher concentration of these matters is key in growth of sexual organs and development of secondary sexual features in women. Synthetic compounds which initiate or enhance the effect of estrogens are called xenobiotics. Xenobiotics are found in the human body in much higher concentrations than are usual. They can modify the functions of the endocrine, reproductive, nervous and immune system. For this reason it is significant to determine these compounds. Their physico-chemical properties and complex structure cause many analytical problems. Chromatography, especially liquid chromatography (LC), is used in an extremely large range of analytical methods. Successful analysis of estrogens requires a rapid, reliable, precise method for sample preparation and cleanup to remove potential interfering components. An applicable procedure is the use of solid-phase extraction (SPE), especially with molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP), therefore SPE-MIP. MIPs are taylor-made synthetic materials capable of selectivity rebinding a target analyte based on a combination of recognition mechanisms including size, shape and functionality. Combination SPE-MIP and LC with various detection techniques present an excellent method in quality control of estrogens.

Keywords:

• Estrogens
• xenobiotics
• metabolomics
• SPE
• MIP
• HPLC
• detection

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by Visegrad Fund Grant, grant (project No. R05 037 03) from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (Warsaw, Poland) and VEGA 1/4450/07.