title: Quantitation by gas chromatography with selected-ion monitoring mass spectrometry of "natural" diazepam, N-desmethyldiazepam and oxazepam in normal human serum.
abstract: During the past five years, the literature has tended to prove the occurrence of "natural benzodiazepines" in tissues and biological fluids of non-medicated humans. Several have been identified but very few papers deal with their quantitation in biological material. We present here a method for the specific and sensitive measurement of serum levels of diazepam, N-desmethyldiazepam and oxazepam by gas chromatography with selected-ion monitoring mass spectrometry in twenty human volunteers without medication. Diazepam was found over the whole population, in the range 7.3-32.0 pg/ml, identical in males and females. The other two were present in only some individuals (1.0-7.6 pg/ml for N-desmethyldiazepam and 2.0-13.0 pg/ml for oxazepam). The origin (endogenous, dietary or microbial) of these substances is still to be elucidated.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Biochimie, Toxicologie et Analyse des Traces, Hôpital Edouard Herriot, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Duthel
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Constant
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Vallon
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rochet
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miachon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003975:Diazepam / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D003708:Nordazepam / Q000097:blood*; D010076:Oxazepam / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D003708:Nordazepam; D010076:Oxazepam; D003975:Diazepam