Stable deuterium internal standard for the isotope-dilution LC-MS/MS analysis of elastin degradation.

Chemical synthesis of the deuterium isotope desmosine-d4 has been achieved. This isotopic compound possesses all four deuterium atoms at the alkanyl carbons of the alkyl amino acid substitution in the desmosine molecule and is stable toward acid hydrolysis; this is required in the measurement of two crosslinking molecules, desmosine and isodesmosine, as biomarkers of elastic tissue degradation. The degradation of elastin occurs in several widely prevalent diseases. The synthesized desmosine-d₄ is used as the internal standard to develop an accurate and sensitive isotope-dilution liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis, which can serve as a generalized method for an accurate analysis of desmosine and isodesmosine as biomarkers in many types of biological tissues involving elastin degradation.