title: Issues pertaining to the analysis of buprenorphine and its metabolites by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.
abstract: "Substitution therapy" and the use of buprenorphine (B) as an agent for treating heroin addiction continue to gain acceptance and have recently been implemented in Taiwan. Mature and widely utilized gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) technology can complement the low cost and highly sensitive immunoassay (IA) approach to facilitate the implementation of analytical tasks supporting compliance monitoring and pharmacokinetic/pharmacogenetic studies. Issues critical to GC-MS analysis of B and norbuprenorphine (NB) (free and as glucuronides), including extraction, hydrolysis, derivatization, and quantitation approaches were studied, followed by comparing the resulting data against those derived from IA and two types of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) methods. Commercial solid-phase extraction devices, highly effective for recovering all metabolites, may not be suitable for the analysis of free B and NB; acetyl-derivatization products exhibit the most favorable chromatographic, ion intensity, and cross-contribution characteristics for GC-MS analysis. Evaluation of IA, GC-MS, and LC-MS/MS data obtained in three laboratories has proven the 2-aliquot GC-MS protocol effective for the determination of free B and NB and their glucuronides.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Technology, Fooyin University, 151 Ching-Hsueh Road, Ta-Liao Hsiang, Kaohsiung Hsien 831, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Shan
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Dong-Liang
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Shu-Ching
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Meng-Yan
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Ray H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Lien-Wen
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Pai-Sheng
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Chiareiy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Ming-Ren
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Fuh
mesh_terms: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000652:urine; D002047:Buprenorphine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000652:urine; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D002047:Buprenorphine