Thin-Layer Chromatographic Competitive Protein-Binding Assay for Cortisol and Cortisone, and its Application to Urine Samples from Healthy Men Undergoing Water Diuresis

Abstract

Specific and rapid determination of free cortisol (compound F) and cortisone (compound E) in human urine has been achieved by concentration of the urine samples, liquid–liquid extraction of the concentrated samples, thin-layer chromatography of ethanolic extracts on aluminium foil-backed silica gel 60 TLC plates, location of the steroids under UV light, elution of cortisol and cortisone from sections of the plates with phosphate buffer, and measurement by competitive protein-binding assay. Chicken serum was used as the source of corticosteroid binding globulin, because it binds cortisol and cortisone with similar high affinity. The method combining thin-layer chromatography and competitive protein-binding assay is easy to perform, specific, sensitive, and quite rapid. Free cortisol and cortisone were measured in the urine of male individuals who abstained from water intake for 2 h or who ingested 1 L of water. The results show, for the first time, that short-term water diuresis markedly increases urinary free cortisone excretion, supporting our previous hypothesis that its excretion is positively correlated with urine volume, i.e. with the volume of 24-h urine samples.