Quantification of 15 Psychotropic Drugs in Serum and Postmortem Blood Samples after a Modified Mini-QuEChERS by UHPLC–MS-MS

Abstract

The aim of the study was to develop a LC-MS-MS method able to detect and quantify a number of frequently prescribed antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs for toxicological purposes. Separation of compounds was performed on a C-18 RP column by Ultra High-Pressure Chromatography over a 11 min run. A modified single step QuEChERS protocol consisted essentially by the addition of acetonitrile, potassium carbonate and magnesium sulfate in 100 μL of sample, vortexing, centrifugation and evaporation has been selected. The method achieves satisfactory recoveries for 15 psychotropic drugs with a mean R% of 85% and provides efficient purification of the sample from endogenous interferences, simplicity and short sample handling times. The method was validated and provided satisfactory accuracy with recoveries ranging from 85 to 113% and precision with CV ranging from 1.2 to 13.2%. LODs were determined to be from 0.0003 to 0.017 μg/mL while LOQs were from 0.001 to 0.05 μg/mL for the 15 drugs. Matrix effect was below 20% and the analytes were stable in the matrix for 3 weeks. The method proved to be suitable for both analysis of clinical samples for Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and antemortem or postmortem whole blood samples of forensic cases. A number of samples with clinical and forensic interest were successfully analyzed demonstrating the effectiveness of QuEChERS in this field.

Polydopamine coated hypodermic needles as a microextraction device for the determination of tricyclic antidepressants in oral fluid by direct infusion MS/MS

“…Table 2 compares the sensitivity of the proposed method with other alternatives reported for the determination of tricyclic antidepressants in biouids, including saliva, urine, plasma and blood. 1,6,7,9,12,16,[49][50][51][52][53] Our method provides a wider linear range, allowing the determination of the target compounds at the therapeutic level. In the oral uid applications, the sensitivity of the new method is intermediate and only surpassed by the method based on high-resolution MS, although the latter provided a narrower linearity range.…”

Bazı Antidepresan ve Antiepileptik İlaçların İnsan Kanında Eş Zamanlı Analizi için LC-MS/MS Yöntemi Geliştirilmesi

“…İnsan vücudu dışında yapılan çalışmalar da ise şehirlerin atık sularında bulunan antidepresanların LC-MS/MS ile eş zamanlı tayini yapılmış ve 38 psikoaktif ilacın (benzodiazepinler, antidepresanlar ve istismar ilaçları dahil) ortalama ve maksimum konsantrasyon seviyelerinin literatürde daha önce rapor edilen seviyelerin üzerinde çıktığı bulunmuştur. 2017 yılında Sıvı Kromatografi-Üçlü Dört Kutuplu Tandem Kütle Spektrometresi (LC-MS/MS) yöntemi ile 89 yasal nöropsikiyatrik ilaç ve yasadışı uyuşturucunun (hem ana bileşikler hem de metabolitler) filtre edilmemiş atık su ve tatlı suda eş zamanlı belirlenmesi için metot geliştirilmiştir [12][13][14].…”

Simple extraction of toxicologically relevant psychotropic compounds and metabolites from whole blood using mini‐QuEChERS followed by UPLC–MS/MS analysis

“…The determination of psychotropic drugs and metabolites in blood is relevant in the context of both therapeutic drug monitoring and clinical and forensic toxicology (Pouliopoulos et al, 2018). In addition to the measurement of target compounds, multitarget drug screening in biological specimens is a fundamental task in the field of forensic and clinical toxicology (Kohler & Guillarme, 2014).…”

“…The original QuEChERS (an acronym for Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, Safe) extraction method was developed by Anastassiades et al (2003) for analysis of pesticide residues in plants. Considering its potential advantages, the QuEChERS extraction approach was evaluated in toxicological analysis in the forensic and clinical context and applied to human biological specimens such as urine (Usui, Hayashizaki, Minagawa, et al, 2012), serum (Pouliopoulos et al, 2018), blood (Anzillotti et al, 2014; Dulaurent et al, 2016; Matsuta et al, 2013; Pouliopoulos et al, 2018; Usui, Hayashizaki, Hashiyada, & Funayama, 2012) and liver (Usui et al, 2014). The potential advantages of this extraction method in analytical toxicology include reduction of matrix effects, operational simplicity and high extraction efficiency for many different analytes (Usui, Hayashizaki, Hashiyada, & Funayama, 2012).…”