Development and validation of general plasma screening method for performance enhancing drugs in racehorses utilizing liquid chromatography–high‐resolution mass spectrometry (LC–HRMS)

Abstract

The screening of drugs in plasma and urine often requires initial extraction (such as liquid–liquid extraction and solid‐phase extraction) before the samples are submitted to instrumental analyses. These extraction procedures are often laborious and time‐consuming. In this manuscript, a high‐throughput automated assay based on liquid chromatography–high‐resolution mass spectrometry (LC–HRMS) suitable for use as an initial testing procedure covering multiple classes of compounds prohibited in horse racing is described. The assay requires a 600‐μL plasma aliquot, which is subjected to solid phase extraction (SPE) using OASIS HLB 96‐well SPE with Biotage Extrahera system, evaporation, and reconstitution in a 96‐well collection plate. LC–HRMS analyses were carried out on a Thermo Q‐Exactive Mass spectrometer coupled with Thermo UHPLC system equipped with Thermo Accela ALS 2.4.0 autosampler linked to ACE Excel column. Drug targets were detected by retention time and accurate mass, with a mass tolerance window of 5 ppm in positive and negative ionization mode. The screening method was validated for over 300 drug targets in a 13‐min run. Validation data including sensitivity, specificity, extraction recovery, and precision are presented. As the method employs full‐scan mass spectrometry, unlimited number of drug targets can theoretically be incorporated into this method.