title: High-throughput screening of corticosteroids and basic drugs in horse urine by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.
abstract: This paper describes two high-throughput liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) methods for the screening of two important classes of drugs in equine sports, namely corticosteroids and basic drugs, at low ppb levels in horse urine. The method utilized a high efficiency reversed-phase LC column (3.3 cm L x 2.1 mm i.d. with 3 microm particles) to provide fast turnaround times. The overall turnaround time for the corticosteroid screen was 5 min and that for the basic drug screen was 8 min, inclusive of post-run and equilibration times. Method specificity was assessed by analysing a total of 35 negative post-race horse urine samples. No interference from the matrices at the expected retention times of the targeted masses was observed. Inter-day precision for the screening of 19 corticosteroids and 48 basic drugs were evaluated by replicate analyses (n = 10) of a spiked sample on 4 consecutive days. The results demonstrated that both methods have acceptable precision to be used on a routine basis. The performance of these two methods on real samples was demonstrated by their applications to drug administration and positive post-race urine samples.
authors.affiliation: Racing Laboratory, The Hong Kong Jockey Club, Sha Tin Racecourse, Sha Tin, NT, Hong Kong, China. gary.nw.leung@hkjc.org.hk
authors.forename: Gary N W
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Leung
authors.forename: Evonne W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Emmie N M
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Kwok
authors.forename: David K K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Leung
authors.forename: Francis P W
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Terence S M
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.forename: Nola H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones / Q000652:urine*; D000818:Animals; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D004300:Doping in Sports; D006736:Horses; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000652:urine*; D012015:Reference Standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations