Quantitation of 5-lipoxygenase products by electrospray mass spectrometry: effect of ethanol on zymosan-stimulated production of 5-lipoxygenase products by human neutrophils.

A reverse-phase-HPLC/tandem mass spectrometric method (LC/MS/MS) was developed for the quantitation of leukotriene B4 (LTB4), the 5-lipoxygenase product, 5-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (5-HETE), as well as the omega-oxidation metabolites of LTB4, 20-hydroxy-LTB4, and 20-carboxy-LTB4. Electrospray-generated carboxylate anions were collisionally activated and decomposed to specific and abundant product ions and multiple reaction monitoring was used to analyze LTB4 (m/z 335-->195), 20-hydroxy-LTB4 (m/z 351-->195), 20-carboxy-LTB4 (m/z 365-->195), and 5-HETE (m/z 319-->115). A linear correlation was observed in comparison of results obtained from quantitation by LC/MS/MS with quantitation by gas chromatography/MS of the pentafluorobenzyl ester/trimethylsilyl ether derivative of LTB4 produced during opsonized zymosan stimulation of human neutrophils. Detection limits at the low picogram level were obtained for all metabolites. This method was applied to the quantitation of 5-lipoxygenase products produced from zymosan-stimulated human neutrophils in the presence of ethanol. At physiologically relevant concentrations of ethanol, production of all 5-lipoxygenase products generated by stimulated neutrophils was markedly attenuated.