Determination of melamine and cyanuric acid in human urine by a liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

Melamine was found to be the etiological factor for the urinary stones epidemic in infants and young children in China in 2008. Urine level of melamine and its analog cyanuric acid may be useful markers for the evaluation of toxic effects. Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry methods for the individual determination of melamine and cyanuric acid in human urine are described. Using isotope labeled internal standards during liquid–liquid extraction, the method was fully validated by verifying specificity, linearity, LLOQ, intra- and inter-assay precision and accuracy, matrix effect, recovery and stability. Calibration curves with good linearity ( r = 0.9999) over the concentration range from 10 to 5000 ng/ml, intra-assay precision