Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020;9(1):A0081.
doi: 10.5702/massspectrometry.A0081. Epub 2020 Mar 31.

Analysis of Serotonin in Human Feces Using Solid Phase Extraction and Column-Switching LC-MS/MS

Yukiko Hirabayashi  1 , Kiminori Nakamura  2 , Tsuyoshi Sonehara  1 , Daisuke Suzuki  1 , Satoru Hanzawa  1 , Yu Shimizu  3 , Tomoyasu Aizawa  2 , Koshi Nakamura  4   5 , Akiko Tamakoshi  4 , Tokiyoshi Ayabe  2
Affiliations

Analysis of Serotonin in Human Feces Using Solid Phase Extraction and Column-Switching LC-MS/MS

Yukiko Hirabayashi et al. Mass Spectrom (Tokyo). 2020.

Abstract

Serotonin, an important neurotransmitter, is produced mainly in intestines, and serotonin levels in feces can be an indicator of the intestinal environment. Human feces, however, contain a large amount of contaminants, which vary widely owing to food contents and the intestinal environment, and these contaminants would be expected to interfere with the determination of serotonin levels in human feces. To remove these contaminants and determine serotonin levels, we developed a new method using solid phase extraction (SPE) and column-switching LC-MS/MS. Serotonin, labeled with a stable isotope, was added to human feces samples prior to SPE as an internal standard to correct for individual differences in matrix effects. The recovery rate for SPE was 55.9-81.0% (intraday) and 56.5-78.1% (interday) for feces from two subjects. We analyzed 220 fecal samples from 96 subjects including 76 pregnant and post-delivery women. The endogenous serotonin content per unit weight of dried feces was 0.09-14.13 ng/mg for pregnant and post-delivery women and 0.30-9.93 ng/mg for the remaining subjects.

Keywords: column-switching LC-MS/MS; feces; serotonin; solid phase extraction.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

None
Fig. 1. Column-switching LC-MS/MS setup.
None
Fig. 2. Serotonin content of pregnant and post-delivery women.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. E. G. Zoetendal, A. D. L. Akkermans, W. M. De Vos. Temperature gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of 16S rRNA from human fecal samples reveals stable and host-specific communities of active bacteria. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64: 3854–3859, 1998. - PMC - PubMed
    1. T. Matsuki, K. Watanabe, J. Fujimoto, Y. Miyamoto, T. Takada, K. Matsumoto, H. Oyaizu, R. Tanaka. Development of 16S rRNA-gene-targeted group-specific primers for the detection and identification of predominant bacteria in human feces. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 68: 5445–5451, 2002. - PMC - PubMed
    1. H. Tremlett, K. C. Bauer, S. Appel-Cresswell, B. B. Finlay, E. Waubant. The gut microbiome in human neurological disease: A review. Ann. Neurol. 81: 369–382, 2017. - PubMed
    1. B. D. Muegge, J. Kuczynski, D. Knights, J. C. Clemente, A. González, L. Fontana, B. Henrissat, R. Knight, J. I. Gordon. Diet drives convergence in gut microbiome functions across mammalian phylogeny and within humans. Science 332: 970–974, 2011. - PMC - PubMed
    1. T. Yatsunenko, F. E. Rey, M. J. Manary, I. Trehan, M. G. Dominguez-Bello, M. Contreras, M. Magris, G. Hidalgo, R. N. Baldassano, A. P. Anokhin, A. C. Heath, B. Warner, J. Reeder, J. Kuczynski, J. G. Caporaso, C. A. Lozupone, C. Lauber, J. C. Clemente, D. Knights, R. Knight, J. I. Gordon. Human gut microbiome viewed across age and geography. Nature 486: 222–227, 2012. - PMC - PubMed