title: HPLC-ESI-MS/MS determination of zuclopenthixol in a fatal intoxication during psychiatric therapy.
abstract: The first non-suicidal fatality due to intramuscular administration of Cisordinol (zuclopenthixol, ZPT) is described. A new, rapid, and sensitive method for the determination of ZPT in postmortem specimens has been developed. High performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS/MS) was employed for drug confirmation and quantitation. Sample clean up was performed using a simple liquid-liquid extraction procedure. The postmortem concentration of ZPT in heart blood was 0.68 microg/ml. Furthermore, zotepine, carbamazepine, and chlorprotixene were detected in body fluids. The proposed method enables the unambiguous identification and quantitation of ZPT and other neuroleptic drugs in clinical and forensic specimens.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forensic Medicine, Karl-Franzens University Graz, Universitaetsplatz 4, A-8010 Graz, Austria. manfred.kollroser@kfunigraz.ac.at
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kollroser
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Henning
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gatternig
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schober
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000097:blood / Q000506:poisoning*; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003006:Clopenthixol / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000097:blood / Q000506:poisoning*; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D005475:Flupenthixol / Q000097:blood / Q000506:poisoning; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006801:Humans; D007273:Injections, Intramuscular; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D003006:Clopenthixol; D005475:Flupenthixol