[Determination and level investigation of 45 hormones in edible bird's nest by solid phase extraction-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry].

Edible bird's nests (EBNs), a food of animal origin, are temporary nests built by swiftlets to foster their offspring. As EBNs and their products are widely accepted by consumers, the safety of hormones in EBNs has also received increasing attention. The establishment of a method for hormone analysis in EBNs and the investigation of hormone levels based on the analytical method are the most effective measures to eliminate any safety concerns. In this study, a multi-residue method was developed for the simultaneous determination of 45 hormones in EBNs, including estrogens, progesterones, androgens, and cortical hormones. EBN samples (1.0 g) were weighed into 50 mL polypropylene centrifuge tubes and mixed with 8 mL of pure water. Then, the samples were extracted twice with 15 mL of acetonitrile and ethyl acetate (1∶1, v/v) under ultrasonic-assisted conditions for 30 min, and the protein in the EBN samples was precipitated at 4000 r/min for 5 min. The clear supernatants were loaded onto a hydrophilic-lipophilic balanced (HLB) SPE column, which was previously activated with methanol (3 mL) followed by pure water (3 mL). The cartridge was washed with 3 mL of pure water and 3 mL of 50% methanol aqueous solution. The hormones were eluted with 3 mL of methanol. A rapid analysis was performed using high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). The hormones in the extracting solution were separated on a Phenomenex Kinetex C