Fully automated drug screening of dried blood spots using online LC-MS/MS analysis

Abstract

A new and fully automated workflow for the cost effective drug screening of large populations based on the dried blood spot (DBS) technology was introduced in this study. DBS were prepared by spotting 15 μL of whole blood, previously spiked with alprazolam, amphetamine, cocaine, codeine, diazepam, fentanyl, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphet-amine (MDMA), methadone, methamphetamine, morphine and oxycodone onto filter paper cards. The dried spots were scanned, spiked with deuterated standards and directly extracted. The extract was transferred online to an analytical LC column and then to the electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry system. All drugs were quantified at their cut-off level and good precision and correlation within the calibration range was obtained. The method was finally applied to DBS samples from two patients with back pain and codeine and oxycodone could be identified and quantified accurately below the level of misuse of 89.6 ng/mL and 39.6 ng/mL respectively.

Fully Automated Forensic Routine Dried Blood Spot Screening for Workplace Testing

“…All points of the calibration functions were sufficiently precise with relative standard deviations below 15 %, respectively below 20 % at LOQ with the exception of THCA-A, 6-MAM and Diazepam which have to be further investigated and validated. Table 3 also includes the cut-off and toxicological levels from literature for blood samples [7], [22]. The same cut-off concentrations were used for the urine samples in this phase, however this will be adjusted with growing data from routine analysis.…”

“…There are legal drugs used for medication such as benzodiazepines, antidepressants and sedatives and illicit drugs such as opiates, cannabis, hallucinogens and cocaine [2], [3]. The integration of the dried blood spot (DBS) technology in drug testing offers various advantages such as simplified blood collection, reduced shipping, storage costs, reduced analysis time and labor [4]- [7]. After sample collection, each sample is anonymized using a barcode, which is later connected to the analysis results in a database.…”

Recent advances in the detection of drugs of abuse by dried blood spots

“…At the end, a start signal triggers the sample injection and instrumental run from the autosampler to the LC–MS/MS system. Specifically, Gaugler et al (2018) reported a fully automated screening for 12 drugs of abuse with DBS and online LC–MS/MS analysis. A stock standards solution was mixed with the donor blood in four different concentrations to prepare the calibration curve.…”

Detection of 26 Drugs of Abuse and Metabolites in Quantitative Dried Blood Spots by Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry

“…Most of these focus on the detection or/and quantification of a specific category of drugs, such as cocaine and its metabolites, benzodiazepines, new psychoactive substances (NPSs), amphetamines, and cannabinoids [ 14 , 16 , 29 ]. There are few protocols that enable the simultaneous determination of a plethora of illicit drugs belonging to various categories in DBSs but require a minimum blood volume of 15 μL [ 17 , 20 , 21 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. In all these cases, spots in a simple filter paper, such as Whatman protein saver cards, are used, which presents various limitations, especially in terms of accurate quantification.…”