Determination of gestagens in kidney fat by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

The use of gestagens in animal fattening is prohibited within the European Union. Recently, the use of spectrometric methods for the detection and confirmation of banned substances was made obligatory. Therefore, conventional high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) methods have been superseded. It has been possible to couple a previously described HPLC method for the determination of acetyl-gestagens in kidney fat to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The decision limits CCalpha and the detection capability CCbeta are found to be below the minimum required performance limit (MRPL) established for medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) at 1 microg kg(-1). The calculated values for CCalpha are as follows: megestrol acetate (MGA)--0.15 microg kg(-1), melengesterol acetate (MLA)--0.15 microg kg(-1), chlormadinone acetate (CMA)--0.37 microg kg(-1) and for medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA)--0.24 microg kg(-1). The CCbeta values for these compounds have been determined as 0.19, 0.19, 0.47 and 0.32 microg kg(-1), respectively.