Quantification of tricyclic antidepressants and monoamine oxidase inhibitors by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry in whole blood.
Here we describe a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the blood determination of tricyclic antidepressant drugs (amitriptyline, clomipramine, trimipramine, and imipramine, doxepin, mianserin, maprotyline, dosulepine, amoxapine), their active metabolites (desipramine, nortriptyline, demethylclomipramine, and nordoxepin), and monoamine oxidase inhibitors (toloxatone and moclobemide). A nontricyclic antidepressant (viloxazine) and two other anxiolytic drugs (buspirone and hydroxyzine) that could be encountered in toxicology have been included to this method. After a liquid-liquid extraction from blood, the compounds and their internal standard (methylrisperidone) were eluted on a XTerra RP18 column with a gradient of acetonitrile/ammonium formate buffer 4 mmol/L (pH 3.2). They were then detected by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry with multiple reaction monitoring mode. The calibration curves were linear over the range 5-100 ng/mL. The limit of quantification was 2 ng/mL for each compound. The bias were lower than 10%. Intraday and interday precisions, expressed as variation coefficient, were lower than 13%. The extraction recoveries were between 60 and 80% except for moclobemide, viloxazine, and toloxatone (10-60%). This specific and sensitive method allows management of intoxication and is suitable for the routine determination of antidepressants in forensic investigation.
Titier
Karine
K
Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Pellegrin Hospital and University Victor Segalen, 33076 Bordeaux, France. karine.titier@pharmaco.u-bordeaux2.fr
Castaing
Nadège
N
Le-Déodic
Maité
M
Le-Bars
Delphine
D
Moore
Nicholas
N
Molimard
Mathieu
M
D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic / Q000097:blood* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D001711:Biotransformation; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D016903:Drug Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008996:Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors / Q000097:blood* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods*; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry
D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic; D008996:Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors