Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
PLoS One. 2024 Aug 28;19(8):e0309478. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0309478. eCollection 2024.
Steroid hormones are important modulators of many physiological processes, and measurements of steroids in blood, saliva, and urine matrices are widely used to assess endocrine pathologies and stress. However, these matrices cannot be used to retrospectively assess early-life stress and developmental endocrine pathologies, because they do not integrate steroid levels over the long term. A novel biological matrix in which to measure steroids is primary teeth (or "baby teeth"). Primary teeth develop early in life and accumulate various endogenous molecules during their gradual formation. Here, we developed and validated the first assay to measure steroids in human primary teeth using liquid chromatography-tandem spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Our assay is highly sensitive, specific, accurate, and precise. It allows for the simultaneous quantification of 17 steroids in primary teeth (16 of which have not been examined previously in primary teeth). Overall, steroid levels in primary teeth were relatively low, and 8 steroids were quantifiable. Levels of dehydroepiandrosterone, cortisol, and progesterone were the highest of the 17 steroids examined. Next, we used this assay to perform steroid profiling in primary teeth from males and females. The same 8 steroids were quantifiable, and no sex differences were found. Levels of androgens (androstenedione and testosterone) were positively correlated, and levels of glucocorticoids (cortisol, cortisone, corticosterone, 11-dehydrocorticosterone) were also positively correlated. These data demonstrate that multiple steroids can be quantified by LC-MS/MS in human primary teeth, and this method potentially provides a powerful new way to retrospectively assess early-life stress and developmental endocrine pathologies.
甾体激素是许多生理过程的重要调节剂，血液、唾液和尿液基质中的甾体激素测量广泛用于评估内分泌病理学和应激。然而，这些基质不能用于回顾性评估生命早期的应激和发育内分泌病理学，因为它们不能长期整合甾体水平。一种测量甾体的新型生物基质是乳牙（或“婴儿牙”）。乳牙在生命早期发育，并在其逐渐形成过程中积累各种内源性分子。在这里，我们开发并验证了使用液相色谱-串联质谱法 (LC-MS/MS) 测量人乳牙中甾体的第一个测定法。我们的测定法具有高灵敏度、特异性、准确性和精密度。它允许同时定量乳牙中的 17 种甾体（其中 16 种以前从未在乳牙中检测到）。总体而言，乳牙中的甾体水平相对较低，可定量 8 种甾体。在检查的 17 种甾体中，脱氢表雄酮、皮质醇和孕酮的水平最高。接下来，我们使用该测定法对男性和女性乳牙中的甾体进行了分析。可定量的 8 种甾体相同，未发现性别差异。雄激素（雄烯二酮和睾酮）水平呈正相关，而糖皮质激素（皮质醇、可的松、皮质酮、11-脱氢皮质酮）水平也呈正相关。这些数据表明，LC-MS/MS 可以在人乳牙中定量多种甾体，这种方法可能为回顾性评估生命早期的应激和发育内分泌病理学提供一种强大的新方法。
