Development and Validation of a Method for Simultaneous Determination of Hair Glucocorticoids and Endocannabinoids as Biomarkers of Stress During Pregnancy

The study developed and validated a method using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to measure stress biomarkers, specifically glucocorticoids and endocannabinoids, in hair samples from pregnant women. Analyzing 66 hair segments from 35 women, glucocorticoids were detected in most cases, while endocannabinoids were found in all. Notably, glucocorticoid levels increased over the trimesters, whereas endocannabinoid levels remained stable. This method allows for non-invasive, longitudinal monitoring of stress biomarkers during pregnancy, highlighting hair as an effective matrix for assessing stress over time.