Determination of furosine in hair by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

A sensitive and reliable analytical method for determining furosine in hair has been developed using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Fructose-N(omega)-formyl-d4-DL-lysine was synthesized and used as an internal standard. By the present method, glycated lysine levels in hair could be determined as fructose-lysine in only 0.1 mg of hair sample, ranging from 35.1-72.6 ng/mg hair among five healthy volunteers, which corresponded to 0.0635-0.153% of the total lysine contents in hair determined by amino acid analysis.